TN 


Proceedings 


American 


Eighteenth   Annual   Session 

San  Francisco,  California,  September  20-22,  1915 


Published   by  The  American  Mining  Congress 

At  the  Office  of  the  Secretary,   Washington,  D.  C.,  1916 


EXCHANGE 


Report  of  Proceedings 


of  th< 


American  Mining 


c 


ongress 


Eighteenth  Annual  Session 
San  Francisco,  California 
September  20-22,  1915 


Published  by  The  American  Mining  Congress 

At  the  Office  of  the  Secretary,  Washington,  D.  C.,  1916 


PREVIOUS  SESSIONS  OF  CONGRESS 


DATE. 

CITY. 

let 

July, 

1897* 

Denver,   Colo. 

1st 

July, 

1897 

Denver,  Colo. 

2d 

July, 

1898 

Salt  LakeCity.Utah 

3d 

July, 

^1899f 

Milwaukee,  Wis. 

3d 

June, 

1900 

Milwaukee,  Wis. 

4th 

July, 

1901 

Boise,  Idaho. 

5th 

Sept., 

1902 

Butte,  Mont. 

6th 

Sept., 

1903 

Deadwood   and 

Lead,  S.  D. 

7th 

Aug., 

1904 

Portland,  Ore. 

8th 

Nov., 

1905 

El  Paso,  Tex. 

Mh 

Oct., 

1906 

Denver,  Colo. 

10th 

Nov., 

1907 

Joplin,  Mo. 

llth 

Dec., 

1908 

Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

12th 

Oct., 

1909 

Goldfield,  Nev. 

13th 

Oct., 

1910 

Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

14th 

Oct., 

1911 

Chicago,  111. 

15th 

Nov., 

1912 

Spokane,  Wash. 

16th 

Oct., 

.1913 

Philadelphia,    Pa. 

17th 

Dec., 

1914 

Phoenix,  Ariz. 

18th 

Sept., 

1915 

San  Francisco,  Cal. 

PRESIDENT. 
Hon.  Alva  Adams, 
Hon.  L.  Bradford  Prince, 
Hon.  L.  Bradford  Prince, 
Col.  B.  F.  Montg-omery, 
Col.  B.  F.  Montgomery, 
Hon.  L.  Bradford  Prince, 
E.  L.  Shafner, 

Hon.  J.  H.  Richards, 
Hon.  J.  H.  Richards, 
Hon.  J.  H.  Richards, 
Hon.  J.  H.  Richards, 
Hon.  J.-  H.  Richards, 
Hon.  J..H.  Richards, 
Hon.  J.  H.  Richards, 
Dr.  E.  R.  Buckley, 
John  Dern, 
Samuel  A.  Taylor, 
David  W.  Brunton, 
Carl  Scholz, 
Carl  Scholz, 


ADDRESS. 
Pueblo,  Colo. 
Santa  Fe,  N.  M. 
Santa  Fe,  N.  M. 
Cripple  Creek,  Colo. 
Cripple  Creek,  Colo. 
Santa  Fe,  N.  M. 
Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Boise,  Idaho. 
Boise,  Idaho. 
Boise,  Idaho. 
Boise,  Idaho. 
Boise,  Idaho. 
Boise,  Idaho. 
Boise,  Idaho. 
Rolla,  Mo. 
SaltLakeCity.Utah. 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 
Denver,  Colo. 
Chicago,  111. 
Chicago,  111. 


*Temporary. 

tPassed  to  June.   1900. 


./i:  A: 


INDEX 

Page 

Auditing    Committee,    Report    of „. 82 

Financial    Statement    of    Secretary 81 

Freight  and  Ore  Treatment  Rates,  Report  of  Committee  on 64 

Members,    Annual    meeting    of 80 

Nominations,    Report   of   Committee   on 81 

Notice  of  Annual  Meeting  of  Members 11 

Prevention  of  Mine  Accidents,  Report  of  Committee  on 41 

Revision  of  Mineral  Land  Laws,  Report  of  Committee  on 44 

Resolution,    Committee    on 26 

Resolutions,   Report   of   Committee  on 63,    77,  78 

Standardization   of   Electrical    Equipment   in    Metal    Mines,    Report   of   Com- 

.       mittee     on I 42 

Uniform  Mine  Reports,   Report  of  Committee  on 42 

SPEAKERS. 

Allen,  R.   C. — Response  to  Address  of  Welcome 20 

Debate  on  Convention  and  Exposition  for  1916 89 

Debate  on  "Blue  Sky  Legislation" 94,  95,  96 

Bartholomew,    E.    L.— Debate    on    "Federal    Government    and    Metalliferous 

Mining"     34 

Bassett,  H.   K.— Address  of  Welcome  on  Behalf  of  President  and  Directors 

of     Panama-Pacific     Exposition 15 

Reply    to     Secretary 27 

Butler,   Rush  C. — Debate  on   "Prejudice  Against  Regulation" 46,  48 

Callbreath,  J.  F.,  Jr.— Announcements' 16,    24,    25,    38,    39,    40,    41,  79 

Debate  on  "Federal  Government  and  Metalliferous  Mining" 31 

Debate  on  Report  of  Committee  on  Uniform  Mine  Reports 42 

Preliminary   Report  for  Committee  on  Revision   of  Mineral  Land  Laws.  43 

Statement  on   Federal   Control   of  Water   Power 57 

Discussion   on   Convention   for    1916 84,    85,    87,    92,  96 

^Day,  Dr.    David   T. — Debate  on   "Prejudice   Against   Regulation" 46,  47 

Debate  on   "Federal   Government   and    Metalliferous   Mining" ..36,  37 

Day,  Harry  L. — Response  to  Address  of  Welcome 22 

Debate  on    "Mining  Hazards" .- 69,    70,    71,    72,    73,  76 

Eldredge,  J.  B. — Debate  on   "Federal  Control  of  Water  Power" 58 

Francis,   Ira  J. — Debate  on   "Prejudice  Against   Regulation" 47 

Hull. — Discussion   of   Convention   for   1916 91 

Hoffman,    Dr.    Frederick   L. — Debate   on    "Mining   Hazards" 72,    74,  75 

Debate  on   Resolution   No.    4 77 

Hamilton,  F.  McM. — Debate  on  California  Infiltration  Law 54 

Ingalls,  W.  R. — Final  Report  of  Committee  on  Prevention  of  Mine  Accidents  41 
Kirby,  Edward  B. — Report  of  the  Committee  on  Revision  of  Mineral  Land 

Laws     44,  45 

Kimball,   Albert. — Discussion   on    1916    Convention 90,  91 

Debate  on   "Blue   Sky  Legislation" 96,  97 

Montgomery,   E.    A. — Discussion   of    1916    Convention 92 

Mackenzie,  A.  G. — Debate  on  "Blue   Sky  Legislation" 97 

Mclntyre,    G.   T. — Discussion   of   1916    Convention .89,  92 

Debate   on   "Blue   Sky   Legislation" 94,  95 

Pett,  Imer. — Report  of  Committee  on  Freight  and  Ore  Treatment  Rates..  64,  65 

Pollard,   John  A. — Debate  on   California's  Water  Infiltration 51,  52 


341913 


"IV    \  V  >  rlw 
4    \;V;;^Cj^'*«z         "INDEX 

Phillips,    Dr.   Wm.    B. — Response   to   Address   of   Welcome 17 

Debate  on  "Plain  Talk" 29,   30,  31 

Debate   on    "Prejudice   Against    Regulation" 47 

Discussion   of   1916    Convention 87 

Debate   on   "Blue   Sky   Legislation" 96 

Reese,  John  P. — Introduction  of  Resolution  No.    11 78 

Response   to   Address  of  Welcome 20 

Ruhl,  Otto. — Debate  on  Future  of  American  Zinc  Industry 79 

Discussion   of   1916   Convention ~ 88 

Response   to   Address  of   Welcome 

Richards,  J.  H. — Response  to  Address  of  Welcome 23 

Rice,  George  S. — Debate  on  Federal  Government  and  Metalliferous  Mining. 3 7,  38 
Sands,  H.   S. — Report  of  Committee  on  Standardization  of  Electrical  Equip- 
ment   in    Metal    Mines 42 

Scholz,    Carl. — Response   to   Address   of   Welcome. 16 

Debate  on  "Federal  Government  and  Metalliferous  Mining" ........  .37, 

Debate  on  "California  Water  Infiltration  Law" ' 52,  53 

Debate  on   "Development  of   Mine  Taxation   in  Arizona" 69 

Discussion  of  Convention  for   1916 85,   86,   88,  89 

Sperr,  F.  W. — Debate  on  Federal  Government  and  Metalliferous  Mining.. 34,  35 

Smith,  Stephen  H. — Debate  on  Federal  Government  and  Metalliferous  Mining  32 

Talmage,  Dr.  James  H. — Response  to  Address  of  Welcome 22 

Taylor,  S.  A. — Report  of  Committee  on  Uniform  Mine  Reports 42 

Utter,  Geo.   H. — Response  to  Address  of  Welcome 22 

Debate   on   Resolution   No.    3 63 

White,    Richard  M. — Debate   on   "Prejudice  Against  Regulation" 49 

Williams,   W.   A. — Debate  on   "California  Water   Infiltration   Law" 50,  51 

Willis,   Chas.    F. — Response  to   Address   of  Welcome 17 

Discussion   of    1916    Convention 90 

Debate  on   "Blue   Sky  Legislation" 97 

Williams,  Gardner  F. — Response  to  Address  of  Welcome 18 

Wilson,    Hon.   Woodrow — Letter   Congratulating  American   Mining   Congress 

on  Its  Work 24 

Wilson,    Herbert    M. — Debate    on    Federal    Government     and     Metalliferous 

Mining     33 

Debate  on  "Mining  Hazards" • 73,     74 

Announcement   Concerning   National   Mine    Safety   Demonstrations.  .  .79,     80 

Wolcott,   E.   L. — Discussion   of  1916   Convention 87,     88 

Discussion  of  "Blue  Sky  Legislation" 95 

Wright,  John  M. — Debate  on  California  Water  Infiltration  Law 55,  56,     57 

ADDRESSES. 

Page 

Annual  Address  of  President Carl  Scholz,  Chicago  98 

What  the  Bureau  of  Mines  in  the  Department  of  the  Interior  Is  Doing  and 

Hopes  to  Do  for  the  Metalliferous  Mining  Industry Van  H.  Manning  103 

Plain  Writing Dr.  George  Otis  Smith  114 

Prejudice  Against  Regulation Rush  C.  Butler  118 

California's  Water  Infiltration  Law Fletcher  Hamilton  131 

Federal  Control  of  Water  Power Hon.  J.  H.  Richards  135 

The  Need  of  Better  Mining  Education Charles  F.  Willis  141 

The  Development  of  Mine  Taxation  in  Arizona G.  H.  Dowell  154 

Workmen's  Compensation  Insurance  and  the  Coal  Mining  Industry 

Herbert  M.  Wilson  156 

The  New  Plan  of  Mining  Insurance David  Ross  163 

Mining  Hazards  on  the  Pacific  Coast Dr.  Frederick  L.  Hoffman  172 

Future  of  the  American  Zinc  Industry Otto  Ruhl  183 


:         OFFICIAL  CALL 

Mining  is  essentially  a  National  Business.  While  composed  of  many 
units,  it  is  necessarily  a  big  business.  Co-operation  of  those  units  is 
essential  to  the  highest  efficiency.  Safety,  Efficiency  and  Conservation 
can  only  be  accomplished  through  the  combined  efforts  of  operator, 
miner  and  consumer.  The  careful  deliberation  of  practical  mining  men  is 
essential  in  the  solution  of  the  growing  problems  of  the  industry.  An 
opportunity  for  discussion  and  the  outlining 'of  plans  through  which 
better  conditions  may  be  brought  about,  will  be  given 

At  the 
EIGHTEENTH  ANNUAL  SESSION 

Of  the 

AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS 

Which  is  Hereby  Called  to  Meet  at  the 

Exposition  Memorial  Auditorium 

San  Francisco,  California 

September  20,  21,  22 

1915 
\ 

REPRESENTATION 

The  Convention  will  be  composed  of  the  active  and  associate  mem- 
bers of  The  American  Mining  Congress  and  members  of  affiliated  organ- 
izations, specially  invited  guests  and  duly  accredited  delegates  appointed 
under  the  authority  hereby  extended  for  the  appointment  of  delegates, 
as  follows: 

The   President  of  the  United   States  may  appoint  ten  delegates  at 

large; 

The  Chief  Executives  of  foreign  nations  may  appoint  ten  delegates; 
Governors  of  states  and  territories  may  each  appoint  ten  delegates; 
Mayors  of  cities  and  towns,  two  delegates  each  and  one  additional 

delegate  for  each  100,000  of  population; 

Boards  of  County  Supervisors,  Boards  of  Trade,  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce, Mining  Bureaus  and  Exchanges,  Mining  Organizations, 
Scientific  Societies,  Engineers'  Associations,  and  State  Mining 
Schools  may  appoint  two  delegates  each. 

The  early  appointment  of  delegates  is  specially  urged  and  that  the 
name  and  address  of  each  delegate  appointed  shall  be  sent  the  Secretary 
at  the  earliest  time  possible.  Delegates  will  be  advised  of  the  subjects 
to  be  presented  in  order  that  proper  preparation  may  be  made  for 
discussion. 

THE  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS, 

By  order  of  the  Executive  Committee, 

CARL  SCHOLZ,  President. 
Attest: 

J.  F.  CALLBREATH,  Secretary. 

Majestic  Bldg.,  Denver,  Colorado,  May  31,  1915. 


OFFICERS    AND    DIRECTORS,    1916 

OFFICERS 

President— CARL,  SCHOLZ. 
First  Viee-Presideiit— HARRY  L,   DAY. 
Second  Vice-President— M.   S.   KEMMERER. 
Third  Vice-President— JAMES  E.   TALMAGE. 


CARL.    SCHOLZ 


EXECUTIVE    COMMITTEE 
CHAS.  M.  MODERWELL 


WALTER    DOUGLAS 


DIRECTORS 


VV.  J.  RICHARDS,  Pottsville,  Pa. 

DR.    JAS.    E.    TALMAGE,    Salt    Lake 

City,  Utah. 

CHAS.  M.  MODERWELL,   Chicago. 
DR.  WM.   B.  PHILLIPS,  Golden,  Colo. 
M.  S.  KEMMERER,  New  York  City. 


WALTER  DOUGLAS,  Bisbee,  Ariz. 


E'.  A.  MONTGOMERY,  Los  Angeles. 
SAMUEL  A.  TAYLOR,  Pittsburgh. 
L.  A.  FRIEDMAN,  Lovelock,  Nev. 
CARL  SCHOLZ,  Chicago,  111. 
HARRY  L.  DAY,  Wallace,  Idaho. 
CHARLES  S.  KEITH,  Kansas  City. 


GENERAL  COMMITTEES,   1916 


State     Vice-Presidents. 

Alaska— B.  F.  Millard Valdez 

Arizona — W.   B.    Twitchell Phoenix 

Arkansas — C.  C.  Woodson. Huntingdon 
California — Chas.  E.  Knox ....  Berkeley 
Colorado — Irving  T.  Snyder.  . .  .Denver 

Georgia — W.  H.  Fluker Thomson 

Idaho— Jas.   F.  McCarthy Wallace 

Indiana — J.   C.   Kolsem...  .Terre  Haute 

Illinois— F.  W.  DeWolf Urbana 

Kansas — Jos.  Fletcher Frontenac 

Michigan — C.  E.  Lawrence. ..  .Palatka 
Missouri— W.  B.  Shackelford.WebbCity 

Minnesota— F.  O.  Hammer St.  Paul 

Montana — Jas.   L.   Bruce Butte 

Nebraska — Frank  A.  Manley.  .  .Omaha 
New  York— Chas.  H.  Smith.. N.  Y.  City 

Nevada— C.    B.    Lakenan McGill 

New  Mexico— T.  H.  O'Brien. .  .Dawson 

Ohio— W.   R.   Woodford Cleveland 

Oregon — Harold  N.  Lawrie. .  .Portland 
Oklahoma — Dorset  Carter. .  .McAlester 
Pennsylvania — Morris  Williams . .  Phila. 

S.   Carolina— H.   L.   Scaife-. Clinton 

Texas— D.   C.   Earnest Dallas 

Virginia — E.   A.   Schubert Roanoke 

Wisconsin — F.  O.  Granberg. .  .Oshkosh 
Wyoming — W.  D.  Brennan.  .Cheyenne 
W.  Virginia — E.  Chilson. .  .  .Rush  Run 
Wash' ton— Col.  W.  T.  Perkins. Seattle 


Revision  of  Mineral   Land    Laws. 

E.  B.  Kirby,  Chr. ...... .St.  Louis,  Mo. 

L.  V.  Ray Seward,  Alaska 

Will  L.  Clark Jerome,  Ariz. 

E.  H.  Benjamin San  Francisco,  Cal. 

Victor  C.   Alderson Denver,    Colo. 

J.  H.  Richards Boise,  Idaho 

Wm.    Scallon Helena,   Mont. 

H.   V.   W7inchell Minneapolis,   Minn. 

E.  B.  Kirby St.  Louis,  Mo. 

D.  C.  McDonald Ely,  Nev. 

C.   T.   Brown Socorro,  N.   Mex. 

Isadore    Broman..... Austin,    Tex. 

W.  H.   King Salt  Lake,   Utah 

L.  K.  Armstrong Spokane,  Wash. 


Special  Committee  on  Revision  of 
Mineral  Land  Laws,  to  Act  With 
Similar  Committees  From  the  Amer- 
ican Institute  of  Mining  Engineers 
and  the  Mining  and  Metallurgical 
Society  of  America.  , 

E.  B.  Kirby,  Chr St.  Louis,  Mo. 

George   E.    Collins Denver,    Colo. 

Will  L.   Clark Jerome,  Ariz. 

George  Wingfield Reno,  Nev. 

Thos.  S.  Robinson. San  Francisco,  Cal. 

Alaskan    Affairs. 

Falcon  Joslin Fairbanks,   Alaska 

George  C.   Hazlett Cordova,   Alaska 

M.   D.    Leehey Seattle,   Wash. 

William   Griffith Scranton,    Pa. 

T.  P.  McDonald Helena,  Mont. 

Workmen's     Compensation. 

T.   L.  Lewis,  Chr.  .Charleston,  W.  Va. 

David   Ross Springfield,   111. 

Hon.   T.   Kearns Salt  Lake  City 

W.    R.    Woodford Cleveland,    Ohio 

J.   C.    Kolsem Terre  Haute,   Ind. 

Conference    With    Federal    Trade 
Commission. 

Charles  M.  Moderwell,  Chr Chicago 

Hugh  Shirkie Terre  Haute 

M.   S.   Kemmerer New  York 

Harry  N.  Taylor Kansas  City 

F.  S.    Landstreet New  York  City 

Standardization   of   Electrical 

Equipment. 
In   Coal    Mines. 

Geo.   R.  Wood,   Chr.  .Philadelphia,   Pa. 

S.  A.   Taylor Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

J.  R.  Bent Oglesby,  111. 

G.  T.  Watson Fairmont,  W.  Va. 

H.  M.  Warren Scranton,  Pa. 

G.   A.   Schreier Divernon,  111. 

W.    A.    Thomas Pittsburgh,   Pa. 

In  Metal  Mines. 

H.   S.  Sands,  Chr Denver,  Colo. 

C.   A.   Chase Denver,   Colo. 

Sanford  B.    Belden. ..  .Columbus,   Ohio 


Uniform     Mine    Accounting. 

Saml.  A.  Taylor,  Chr.  .Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

E.   T.  Bent Chicago,  111. 

J.  C.  McKinley Wheeling,  W.  Va. 


Mineral    Statistics. 

Otto   Ruhl,    Chr Joplin,    Mo. 

Fred'k    Burbidge Wallace,    Idaho 

J.  C.  Dick Salt  Lake  City,  Utah 


Forestry     Relations. 

Carney  Hartley,    Chr Denver,   Colo. 

F.  J.  Alexander Denver,  Colo. 

C.  H.  Gibbs Salt  Lake  City,  Utah 

William  McDermott Tucson,  Ariz. 


COMMITTEES    ON    STATE    LEGIS- 
LATION. 

Alaska. 

Col.   B.   F.   Millard,   Chr Valdez 

Charles   A.    Sulzer Sulzer 

W.    T.    Burns Fairbanks 

Arizona. 

Win.   B.   Twitchell,  Chr Tucson 

Wm.  McDermott Tucson 

P.  M.   Murphy Prescott 

Arkansas. 

C    C.  WToodson,  Chr Huntington 

W.    T.    Satterfield Little    Rock 

M.  M.  McWilliajns. Spadra 


Mine  Taxation. 
In    Metal    Mines. 

D.  L.  Webb,  Chr Denver,   Colo. 

Prof.    L.    A.    Young Urbana,    111. 

John   W.   Finch Denver,   Colo. 

D.   W.   Brunton Denver,   Colo. 

John  M.  Hayes.. Salt  Lake  City,  Utah 

Bureau    of   Mining    Economics. 

S.  D.  Warriner Philadelphia,  Pa. 

F.  S.  Peabody Chicago,  111. 

B.  F.  Bush St.  Louis,  Mo. 

D.   W.   Brunton Denver,   Colo. 

Dr.   L.   D.  Ricketts Warren,  Ariz. 

Committee    on    Dr.    Joseph   A.    Holmes 
Memorial. 

David  T.  Day,  Chr.  .Washington,  D.  C. 

Samuel  A.   Taylor Pittsburgh,   Pa. 

George  H.  Gushing Chicago,  111. 

J.  H.  Richards Boise,  Idaho 

C.  W.   Goodale Butte,    Mont. 

H.  N.   Lawrie Portland,   Ore. 

J.  C.  Kolsem Terre  Haute,  Ind. 

B.  F.  Millard Valdez,  Alaska 

W.    R.    Woodford Cleveland,   Ohio 

T.   H.   O'Brien Dawson,   N.   Mex. 

Will  L.   Clark Jerome,  Ariz. 

John  Hays  Hammond.  .New  York  City 

Charles   S.    Keith Kansas  City,   Mo. 

Thomas  B.   Stearns Denver,  Colo. 

Jesse  Knight Provo,  Utah 

M.   D.   Leehey Seattle,   Wash. 

Dr.  I.   C.  White.  .Morgantown,  W.  Va. 

P.  J.   Quealy Kemmerer,  Wyo. 

Dr.  Jos.  Hyde  Pratt.  .Chapel  Hill,  N.C. 
William   Griffith Scranton,    Pa. 


Mining    Investments. 

R.  J.  Evans,  Chr. Salt  Lake  City,  Utah 
Geo.  H.  Dern....Salt  Lake  City,  Utah 
A.  G.  Mackenzie.. Salt- Lake  City,  Utah 

J.   F.  Erisman Denver,   Colo. 

Henry  I.  Seeman Denver,   Colo. 


Arbitration,    Mediation    and    Concilia- 
tion. 

Geo.  W.   Schluederberg,  Chr., 

Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Phillip    Penna Terre   Haute,    Ind. 

John  P.  Reese Gillespie,  111. 


California. 

Chas.   E.   Knox,   Chr Berkeley 

Walter  H.  Wiley Los  Angeles 

Thos.   T.   Read San  Francisco 

Colorado. 

Victor  C.   Alderson,   Chr Denver 

Edward   Aros    Ouray 

John  T.  Joyce . .  Silverton 


Idaho. 

Jas.    F.   McCarthy,   Chr. 

Hecla  Mining  Co 

Jerome    J.    Day 

Ravenal   Macbeth.. 


. .  Wallace 
. .  Moscow 
.  .Mackey 


Kansas. 

Jos.    Fletcher,    Chr 

Francis    Keegan 

Ira    Clemens    . 


.Frontenac 
.Pittsburg 
.Pittsburg 


Nebraska. 
Frank  A.  Manley,  Chr Omaha 

New    Mexico. 

T.   H.  O'Brien,  Chr Dawson 

George  H.  Utter Silver  City 

John  Sully Santa  Rita 

Oregon. 

H.  N.  Lawrie,   Chr., 

506   Yeon   Bldg Portland 

A.   M.   Swartley Corvallis 

H.  M.   Parks Corvallis 

Oklahoma. 

Dorset  Carter,  Chr McAlester 

F.   B.  Drew.. McAlester 

P.    R.    Allen McAlester 


South  Carolina. 
H.   L.   Scaife,   Chr... 


.Clinton 


Virginia. 

E.  A.   Schubert,  Chr Roanoke 

M.  M.  Caldwell Roanoke 

J.    N.   Harmon Tazewell 

Percival  Johnson   Pulaski 


Wisconsin. 
H.  O.  Granberg,  Chr... 


,  Oshkosh 


Wyoming. 

W.  D.  Brennan,  Chr Cheyenne 

P.   J.   Quealy Kemmerer 

H.    S.    Hopka : Deitz 

Washington. 
W.    T.    Perkins,   Chr Seattle 


Michigan. 
R.   C.   Allen,  Chr... 


Lansing 


COMMITTEES   ON    FEDERAL 
LEGISLATION. 

Alabama. 

Dr.  Eugene  A.   Smith,  Chr., 

University,   Ala. 
W.    P.   G.   Harding,   1855   Wyoming 

Ave.,   N.   W Washington,   D.   C. 

John  W.  Abercrombie.Tuscaloosa,  Ala. 

Arizona. 

Chas.    F.    Willis,    Chr.,    Director, 

Bureau   of  Mines Tucson 

Frank  W.    Deane Douglas 

Courtenay  DeKalb Tucson 

Arkansas. 
N.    F.   Drake,    Chr Fayetteville 

Colorado. 

R.  D.  George,  Chr Boulder 

Fred  Carroll Denver 

Bulkeley  Wells Telluride 

Georgia. 

S.   W.  McCallie,  Chr Atlanta 

N.   P.   Pratt Atlanta 

B.    M.    Hall Atlanta 

Illinois. 
F.  W.  DeWolf Urbana 

Indiana. 

Edward  Barrett,  Chr Indianapolis 

Frank  I.  Pearce Indianapolis 

John   C.   Wright Boonville 

Iowa. 

Geo.  P.  Kay,  Chr Iowa  City 

Edw.    Sweeney .  Des  Moines 

Prof.   L.   C.   Hodson,   State  College.. 
Ames 

Idaho. 

Irvin  E.   Rockwell,  Chr Bellevue 

J.   H.   Richards Boise 

Eugene  R.  Day Wallace 

Kansas. 
Erasmus  Haworth,   Chr Lawrence 

Kentucky. 

J.    B.   Hoeing,    Chr Frankfort 

A.    G.    Spillman Earlington 

Perry  Gorman Hazard 

Maine. 

Prof.   C.   Vey  Holman,   Chr.,  Holman 
Oaks     Rockland 

Maryland. 
Wm.   B.   Clark,   Chr.,   Johns   Hopkins 

University    Baltimore 

H.   V.   Hesse Frostburg 

E.  B.  Mathews,  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity     ,,.,,,  Baltimore 


Minnesota. 
Dr.   W.  H.   Emmons,  Chr.  .Minneapolis 

Rukard   Hurd St.    Paul 

W.    R.    Appleby Minneapolis 

Mississippi.     • 

E.  N.  Lowe,  Chr Jackson 

W.   L.    Kennon University 

Louis  Roark,  Agricultural  College... 
Mississippi 


Missouri. 
H.  A.  Buehler,  Chr 


Rolla 


Nebraska. 

E'.  H.  Barbour,  Chr Lincoln 

Robt.    W.    Ellis Lincoln 

E.    F.    Schramm Lincoln 

New    Mexico. 

Chas.  T.  Kirk,  Chr Albuquerque 

Rees  H.    Beddow Gallup 

J.    Van   Houten Raton 

North  Carolina. 

Jos.   Hyde  Pratt,   Chr Chapel  Hill 

Frank    Hewitt Asheville 

Thos.    F.   Woodruff e Mt.    Airy 

North    Dakota. 

A.  G.  Leonard,  Chr University 

J.  W.   Bliss Bismarck 

E.  J.  Babcock University 

Ohio. 
J.  A.  Bownocker,  Chr Columbus 

Oregon. 

H.  M.  Parks,  Chr Corvallis 

J.    Frank   Watson Portland 

F.  W.    Scofleld Sumpter 

Pennsylvania. 

Rich.  R.  Rice,  Chr Beaver 

R    A.   F    Penrose,  Jr.,   Bullitt  Build- 
ing     Philadelphia 

Elmer  E.  Hiles,  Oliver  Building 

Pittsburgh 

South    Dakota. 
Ellwood  C.  Perisho,  Chr Brookings 

Tennessee. 

A.   H.   Purdue,   Chr Nashville 

John  W.   Fry Columbia 

W.  F.  Albright Nashville 

Virginia. 

Thomas  L.  Watson,  Chr 


Charlottesville 


West   Virginia. 

I.  C.  White,  Chr. Morgantown 

J.  C.  McKinley Wheeling 

J.   W.   Dawson Charleston 

Wyoming. 

L.  W.  Trumbull,  Chr Cheyenne 

O.  M.  Beck Atlantic  City 

P.   J.  Quealy Kemmerer 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  11 

NOTICE   OF   ANNUAL   MEETING   OF    MEMBERS. 

A  meeting  of  the  active  members  of  The  American  Mining  Con- 
gress is  hereby  called  to  meet  at  the  Exposition  Memorial  Auditorium, 
San  Francisco,  Calif.,  September  21,  1915,  at  7:30  p.  m.,  for  the  purpose 
of  electing  six  directors;  one  director  to  serve  for  a  period  of  one  year 
to  fill  vacancy  and  five  directors  to  serve  for  a  term  of  three  years,  to 
succeed  Mr.  D.  W.  Brunton,  Mr.  George  H.  Bern,  Mr.  Falcon  Joslin 
and  Mr.- Harry  L.  Day,  whose  terms  of  office  expire,  and  for  the  trans- 
action of  such  other  business  as  may  be  properly  brought  before  said 
meeting.  THE  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS, 

By  order  of  Executive  Committee, 

CARL  SCHOLZ,  President. 
J.  F.  CALLBREATH,  Secretary, 

Denver,   Colorado,  May   31,   1915. 

NOTE — The  American  Mining  Congress  is  an  incorporated  body 
and  only  active  members  of  the  organization  can  legally,  vote  upon  such 
matters  as  relate  to  the  permanent  business  affairs  of  the  Congress,  the 
control  of  which  is  lodged  in  a  Board  of  Directors  consisting  of  thir- 
teen members,  who  are  elected  to  hold  office  for  three  years. 

The  Board  of  Directors  is  largely  guided  by  the  resolutions  adopted 
by  the  Congress  in  Annual  Session,  and  will  maintain  a  working  force 
continually  engaged  in  carrying  out  the  directions  of  the  Congress. 

In  the  regular  deliberations  of  the  Congress,  the  introduction  and 
discussion  of  resolutions  and  other  matters,  serving  upon  convention 
committees,  and  in  every  phase  of  the  meeting  of  the  open  body,  the 
rights,  duties  and  privileges  of  the  regular  members  of  the  American 
Mining  Congress  and  those  of  the  duly  appointed  and  admitted  delegates 
are  the  same  in  all  respects. 

GENERAL  STATEMENT. 

(The  following  statements  are  suggestive  only,  are  offered  as   the 
thought  of  the  Secretary  and  do  not  assume  to  represent  the  judgment  of 
the  members  of  the  organization  nor  to  place  a  limit  upon  the  action  of 
the  convention.) 
Convention  Plan. 

It  is  planned  to  so  limit  the  sessions  of  the  convention  that  dele- 
gates and  members  may  have  greater  opportunity  for  attending  the 
Panama-Pacific  Exposition.  The  usual  addresses  of  welcome  and  re- 
sponses from  the  representatives  of  the  several  states  will  be  limited 
to  one  hour.  The  papers  to  be  considered  by  the  convention  will  be 
printed  and  distributed  to  the  delegates  before  the  convention  and  dis- 
cussion of  these  papers  and  the  subjects  presented  will  be  limited  as 
the  convention  may  direct.  Instead  of  assigning  certain  times  for  the 
discussion  of  the  several  subjects  a  general  program  will  be  outlined, 
and  at  the  first  meeting  the  convention  will  decide  how  much  time  shall 
be  given  to  the  discussion  of  each  subject. 
Western  Mining. 

Discussion  looking  to  the  better  development  of  Western  mining 
ought  naturally  to  take  precedence  in  a  Western  convention.  How  to 
make  mining  more  profitable,  by  more  efficient  mining  methods,  more 
effective  treatment  processes,  or  a  better  market  for  the  product,  are  fun- 
damental questions  submitted  for  discussion. 
Gold  Mining. 

Modern  business  enterprise  depends  largely  on  bank  credits  which 
are  limited  ultimately  by  the  gold  reserves.  Gold  reserves  remain  prac- 
tically constant  without  reference  to  the  enormous  war  destruction  of 
fixed  capital  and  property,  and  the  demand  upon  floating  capital  for  other 
than  industrial  purposes.  To  replace  the  present  appalling  waste  will 
call,  the  world  over,  for  increased  constructive  power,  increased  busi- 
ness enterprise  and  an  increased  burden  on  gold  reserves,  which,  to  the 
extent  that  the  business  world  comprehends  basic  conditions,  will  create 
an  increased  interest  in  gold  mining. 


12  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

Mining  Investments. 

Every  increase  of  western  mining  development  so  directly  benefits 
the  West  as  to  justify  every  possible  effort  to  guide  investors  into  chan- 
nels which  give  fair  promise  of  satisfactory  results.  A  mining  enter- 
prise, unsuccessful  as  the  result  of  rascality,  blocks  the  way  to  future 
investments  and  injures  both  the  investor,  the  community  which  suffered 
the  fraud  and  every  other  community  needing  capital.  A  great  compre- 
hensive movement  is  being  planned  by  which  the  state  chapters  and 
local  sections  of  the  Mining  Congress  may  co-operate  with  the  National 
Organization  in  attracting  attention  to  promising  opportunities,  give 
accurate  and  reliable  information  to  all  intending  investors,  and  protect 
them  against  all  but  the  inherent  risks  of  mining. 
Mine  Manufacturing. 

To  advertise  the  mineral  resources  of  the  West,  to  demonstrate  the 
necessity  for  the  development  of  new  mines  for  the  employment  of  the 
brains,  capital  and  labor  now  employed  in  mines  which  are  being  steadily 
exhausted,  and  to  meet  the  increased  demand  for  gold  in  the  world's 
commerce — offers  a  promising  field  of  public  service  and  private  gain  to 
the  prospector,  the  engineer,  the  promoter  and  the  investor. 
The  Prospector,  the  Promoter  and  the  Engineer. 

The  prospector  whose  patient  search  calls  attention  to  the  possible 
mining  opportunity,  the  engineer  who  justifies  and  plans  for  the  invest- 
ment, the  promoter  who  secures  the  money,  the  mine  manager  and  su- 
perintendent who  supervise  the  operation,  must  each  be  given  sufficient 
incentive  to  justify  the  best  work.  To  the  -extent  that  any  of  these 
separate  callings  are  uncertain  of  reward,  to  that  extent  must  increased 
returns  be  promised  in  order  to  justify  the  .risk  of  the  undertaking. 

The  prospector  upon  the  public  domain  should  have  a  certain  prom- 
ise of  satisfactory  title  to  any  claim  he  may  undertake  to  develop  and 
any  question  of  his   right  to  secure  title  will  necessarily  interfere  with 
his  willingness  to  prospect  or  undertake  development  work. 
The  Public  Lands  Question. 

Whether  the  Federal  Government  shall  lease  the  coal,  oil  and  phos- 
phate lands  and  water  powers,  or  whether  these  shall  pass  into  private 
ownership  and  subject  to  the  state  taxing  power,  is  a  question  of  vital 
importance  to  the  West. 

As  an  illustration:  The  coal  reserves  of  the  State  of  Wyoming  are 
estimated  at  424,085,000,000  tons.  Let  us  suppose  that  25  per  cent  of  this 
estimate  is  available  for  production.  A  royalty  of  2  cents  per  ton  to  the 
Federal  Government  would  amount  to  two  billion  dollars.  If  10  per 
cent  of  the  estimated  coal  were  to  be  placed  on  the  market  during  the 
next  hundred  years,  it  would  mean  at  2  cents  per  ton  royalty,  eight 
hundred  million  dollars — or  eight  million  dollars  annually,  to  be  derived 
by  the  Federal  Government  from  Wyoming,  while  Pennsylvania  and  the 
other  great  coal  producing  states  of  the  East  would- go  entirely  free  from 
paying  similar  tribute. 

Ten  per  'cent  of  the  estimated  coal  reserve  of  the  States  of  W.yo- 
ming,  Montana,  Colorado  and  Utah,  at  2  cents  per  ton  royalty,  would 
net  the  Federal  Government  twenty-five  hundred  million  dollars — one- 
third  more  than  the  aggregate  bonded  indebtedness  of  all  the  states  and 
cities  of  the  United  States. 

The  water  powers  of  the  West  are  more  valuable  than  its  coal  re- 
serves, and  a  most  modest  royalty  will  net  a  fabulous  income  all  of 
which  will  be  a  special  tax  upon  the  Western  states  for  the  support  of 
the  National  Government,  not  imposed  on  the  Eastern  states. 

This  is  one  of  the  least  important  reasons  why  the  West  protests 
against  the  proposed  leasing  and  water  power  bills. 

The  question  is  one  which  has  direct  bearing  upon  mining  develop- 
ment arid  operation,  and  should  receive  the  serious  consideration  of  the 
convention. 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  13 

Conservation. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  available  unused  water  power  in  the  United 
States,  without  resort  to  storage  is  66,518,500  h.  p.,  that  with  storage 
230,000,000  h.  p.  is  possible.  Less  than  6,000,000  h.  p.  is  developed  and 
available  for  present  use. 

We  are  annually  wasting  about  one-third  of  the  coal  reserves 
which  are  being  exhausted.  We  are  applying  to  beneficial  use  less  than 
10  per  cent  of  the*  inherent  possible  value  of  the  500,000,000  tons  of  coal 
which  is  being  consumed. 

The  creation  of  restrictions  to  coal  mining  and  the  hampering  of 
development  of  water  power  under  the  guise  of  conservation  is  a  travesty, 
while  the  development  of  resources  and  the  prevention  of  present  waste, 
is  real  conservation.  Under  this  head  a  discussion  of  the  probable  effects 
of  the  proposed  federal  leasing  system  will  be  presented. 
Revision  of  Mineral  Land  Laws. 

A  bill  for  the  creation  of  a  commission  to  recommend  to  Congress 
such  revision  as  may  be  needed  in  our  mineral  land  laws  after  public 
hearings  in  the  West,  was  passed  by  the  last  U.  S.  Senate,  but  failed  to 
pass  the  House  of  Representatives.  There  seems  a  growing  belief  that 
the  investigations  of  the  proposed  commission  should  include  the  ques- 
tions involved  in  the  leasing  and  water  power  bills,  and  that  any  legis- 
lation should  include  every  phase  of  this  subject  and  be  enacted  only 
after  careful  and  thorough  investigation. 

Whether  these  questions  should  be  treated  as  a  whole  or  whether 
a  patch-work   system  shall  be  followed,  will  justify  a  full  discussion  of 
the  general  subject. 
Co-operation  in  the  Coal  Industry. 

Destructive  competition  is  one  of  the  controlling  elements  in  creat- 
ing an  appalling  condition  in  the  bituminous  coal  industry.  First,  2,500 
lives  are  sacrificed  and  more  than  100,000  men  are  injured  annually,  in  the 
coal  industry. 

Second,  approximately  200,000,000  tons  of  coal  are  wasted  annually, 
being  sufficient  to  exhaust  about  35,000  acres  of  our  best  coal  lands. 

Third,  more  than  500,000  workmen  engaged  in  the  bituminous  in- 
dustry are  idle  more  than  100  days  each  year. 

Fourth,  more  than  $900,000,000  of  capital  engaged  in  the  bituminous 
industry  is  idle  more  than  100  days  each  year. 

The  peculiar  conditions  surrounding  this  industry  serve  to  ag- 
gravate these  conditions  which  tend  directly  toward  destruction  of  the 
small  producers  and  the  creation  of  a  permanent  monopoly  in  coal  pro- 
duction. Complete  co-operation  between  operator,  miner  and  con- 
sumer is  essential  to  the  best  results.  The  question  is  national,  not 
local.  It  affects  all  of  the  people,  not  part  of  them.  It  is  equally  im- 
portant to  the  coal  consumer  of  the  future  and  the  operator  of  today. 
It  is  one  of  the  vital  public  questions  which  need  solution. 

Co-operation  which  gives  the  workman  a  fair  wage,  the  operator  a 
fair  profit  and  the  consumer  a  fair  price,  should  be  made  possible  even 
though  this  may  involve  an  enlargement  of  the  powers  of  the  Federal 
Trade  Commission. 

Discussion  as  to  the  best  means  of  accomplishing  these  results  will 
be  welcome. 
Coal  Exports. 

With  the  market  price  of  coal  lower  than  in  any  other  large  pro- 
ducing country,  it  would  seem  that  export  coals  lying  near  the  seaboard 
should"  absorb  the  trade  of  countries  lying  much  nearer  to  us  than  to  the 
countries  which  are  now  furnishing  the  larger  part  of  the  coal  used. 
The  Latin  American  countries  during  1914,  imported  approximately 
$96,000,000  worth  of  coal,  of  which  the  United  States  supplied  less  than 
25  per  cent. 

The  Federal  Trade  Commission  is  especially  authorized  to  investi- 
gate conditions  in  competing  countries  which  permit  trade  combinations, 
but  lacks  authority  to  approve  similar  combinations,  in  order  that  the 


14  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

business  of  this  country  may  be  put  upon  an  equal  competitive  basis.     A 
discussion  of  the  means  through  which  our  export  trade  may  be  so  de- 
veloped as  to  serve  the  public  good,  will  be  welcome. 
Arbitration,  Mediation  and  Conciliation. 

The  bitter  feeling,  the  enormous  destruction  of  property  and,  above 
all,  the  loss  of  life  which  has  resulted  from  labor  disputes  should  by 
some  process  be  avoided  without  discouraging  any  proper  effort  by  work- 
men to  better  their  condition.  The  question  is  one  which  affects  not 
only  the  parties  involved,  but  the  general  public,  in  that  every  waste 
occasioned  by  strikes  #nd  lockouts  must  necessarily  be  paid  for  b'y__some 
one,  and  usually  by  the-  consumer. 

The  enactment  of  the  Clayton  Bill  by  Congress,  and  the  final 
adjudication  of  the  Danbury-Hatters  case  are  two  notable  recent  hap- 
penings. The  one  intended  to  relieve  labor  entirely,  from  the  provisions 
of  the  anti-trust  laws,  the  other  to  Jix  a  responsibility  not  theretofore 
generally  recognized. 

The  American  Mining  Congress  should  be  able  to  discuss  the  prin- 
ciples involved  in  good  temper,  with  a  view  to  meeting  the  just  demands 
of  both  sides  of  such  controversies. 

In  the  discussio-n  of  this  most  important  question  it  is  hoped  to  lay 
the  foundation  for  constructive  effort. 
Workmen's  Compensation. 

The  reduction  of  the  occupational  hazards  of  mining  to  the  mini- 
mum is  a  first  duty.  Second,  it  is  important  that  proper  provision  shall 
be  made  for  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those  whose  lives  are  lost. 

Tire  great  expense  of  conducting  employers'  liability  insurance  and 
the  bad  feeling  which  frequently  grows  from  the  settlement  of  losses  un- 
der this  plan,  has  led  to  workmen's  compensation  as  a  more  satisfactory 
means.  Workmen's  compensation  laws  have  been  enacted  in  several  states. 
In  the  making  of  these  laws,  efforts  have  been  made  to  create  conditions 
fair  to  both  employer  and  employe.  The  experience  under  the  operation  of 
these  laws  should  guide  to  more  perfect  enactments  in  such  states  as 
are  yet  to  consider  this  subject.  A  report  of  our  committee  on  work- 
men's compensation  as  a  recommendation  to  other  states  will  be  con- 
sidered. 
Mine  Taxation. 

The  many  different  rules  applied  to  the  taxation  of  mines  is  suffi- 
cient proof  that  most  of  them  are  not  correct  in  principle.  An  effort 
looking  to  a  uniform  system  of  taxation  where  similar  conditions  pre- 
vail, to  the  extent  that  it  is  successful,  will  be  of  benefit  to  the  mining 
industry.  A  further  report  of  the  committee  on  mine  taxation  will  be 
presented  for  the  action  of  the  convention. 
Metallurgical  Research  and  Mine  Safety  Stations. 

The  enactment  of  the  Foster  Bill  by  the  last  session  of  Congress 
authorized  the  creation  of  ten  metallurgical  research  and  seven  additional 
mine  safety  stations.  The  research  stations  are  to  be  located  in  the 
metal  mining  sections,  and  are  designed  to  find  solution  for  the  various 
problems  of  metal  mining.  A  discussion  of  the  means  by  which  appro- 
priations, to  make  this  bill  effective,  may  be  secured  from  Congress  will 
be  welcomed. 
Resolutions. 

Any  member  of  the  convention  may  intj-oduce  resolutions  upon  any 
subject  relating  to  mining.  Resolutions  are  read  to  the  convention  and 
without  debate  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  composed  of 
one  member  from  each  state  represented  in  the  convention,  selected  by 
the  delegates  in  attendance  from  such  states.  Members  desiring  to  in- 
troduce resolutions  are  requested  to  submit  them  in  advance  and  the 
secretary  will  gladly  lend  assistance  in  putting  the  resolution  in  proper 
form  for  consideration. 

Resolutions  submitted  in  advance  will  receive  the  special  attention 
of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 


REPORT  OF  THE  PROCEEDINGS 

OF  THE 

Eighteenth  Annual  Session  of  the  American 
Mining  Congress. 


Civic  Auditorium,  San  Francisco,  California,  September  20-22,  1915. 


MONDAY,  SEPTEMBER  20,  1915. 
Opening  Session. 
10  O'clock  A.  M. 

The  Eighteenth  Annual  Session  of  the  American  Mining  Congress 
was  called  to  order  in  the  Civic  Auditorium  at  San  Francisco,  California, 
September  20,  1915,  at  10  o'clock  a.  m.,  by  Hon.  H.  K.  Bassett,  Assistant 
Director  of  Congresses  of  the  Panama-Pacific  International  Exposition. 

HON.  H.  K.  BASSETT— Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  deem  it  a  real 
privilege,  friends,  as  Assistant  Director  of  Congresses  of  the  Panama- 
Pacific  International  Exposition,  to  be  here  this  morning,  and  to  call 
this  Convention  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  to  order.  It  is  a 
privilege,  because  though  you  do  happen  to  be  one  of  something  more 
than  nine  hundred  different  organizations  which  are  to  meet  here  during 
the  Exposition  period,  we  welcome  you  very  sincerely  and  very  earnestly. 
To  be  sure,  the  record  for  conventions  during  any  one  period  in  any 
one  city  has  been  so  far  eclipsed  that  the  record  has  been  quite  lost 
track  of,  but  it's  not  due  to  any  single  department,  it's  not  due  to  any 
single  group  of  people,  it's  due  to  the  very  earnest  and  hearty  co-opera- 
tion of  people  here  in  San  Francisco,  and  the  bay  region,  and  the  cor- 
dial assistance  of  the  officers  and  members,  of  the  organizations  them- 
selves from  all  parts  of  this  country  that  are  meeting  with  us  this  year. 
It's  a  privilege,  too,  for  me  to  be  here,  because  of  a  very  intimate  and 
long  continued  correspondence  that  we  have  had  with  Messrs.  Scholz 
and  Callbreath,  extending  over  a  period  of  something  more  than  two 
years.  It's  a  privilege,  also,  because  we  can  take  some  part  in  welcom- 
ing the  new  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines.  It  has  been  our  privilege 
to  come  in  contact  with  some  of  the  other  officers— Mr.  Wilson,  and 
those  who  have  been  here  during  the  Exposition  period;  and  that's  the 
fine  thing  about  our  work  in  the  Exposition— our  particular  department, 
because  we  are  privileged  to  correspond  with  and  to  meet  these  people 
who  represent  so  many  human  interests.  And  when  I  tell  you  that  we 
have  had  contact  with  something  like  sixty-five  hundred  organizations, 
you  will  believe  with  me  that  man  is  an  organizing  animal!  (Laughter.) 
We  scratched  the  surface  and  reached  something  like  sixty-five  hundred 
of  these  organizations,  and  out  of  that  number  we  have  gathered  unto 
ourselves  here  in  San  Francisco  and  the  bay  region  over  nine  hundred 
conventions  for  the  ten  months'  period.  I  want  therefore  very  cordially, 
in  behalf  of  the  President  and  the  Directors  of  the  Exposition,  and  very 
intimately,  in  behalf  of  my  colleague,  Mr.  James  A.  Barr,  the  Director 
of  Congresses,  to  welcome  the  members  of  this  Mining  Congress,  and 
in  the  same  word  to  call  the  Convention  to  order,  if  I  may,  and  present 


16  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

the  President,  who,  of  course,  needs  no  presentation  to  you — Mr.  Carl 
Scholz.     (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  and  fellow  mem- 
bers of  the  American  Mining  Congress:  We  gladly  receive  the  welcome 
extended  to  us  by  Mr.  Bassett  for  the  Exposition  Association,  and  T 
want  to  say  that,  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  the  address  which  I  have  pre- 
pared has  been  printed  and  will  be  distributed;  so  we  will  not  take  up 
much  of  your  time. 

(The  President's  Annual  Address  will  be  found  at  page  98  of 
this  report.) 

There  were  just  a  few  things  I  wanted  to  say  regarding  the  ac- 
complishments and  the  aim  of  the  Congress  with  which  you  are  already 
undoubtedly  familiar,  but  there  are  so  many  subjects  that  are  coming 
up  now,  that  we  hope  you  will  carefully  read  all  the  papers  that  are  to 
be  presented  and  later  put  in  printed  form. 

The  main  object  of  the  Mining  Congress  is,  of  course,  to  organize 
the  mining  industry  and  bring  its  members  into  closer  touch  with  one 
another.  I  think  we  are  fortunate  in  having  San  Francisco  as  a  meet- 
ing place  this  year,  because  so  many  men  whom  we  could  not  possibly 
get  together  otherwise  will  be  present  here,  and  will  tell  us  what  the 
various  states  have  done  and  are  going  to  do. 

I  will  now  call  upon  a  number  of  gentlemen  who  are  here  from 
the  various  states  to  respond  briefly  to  the  address  of  welcome  given 
us  by  Mr.  Bassett.  I  will  first  ask  the  Secretary  to  make  a  brief  state- 
ment before  I  call  on  these  other  gentlemen. 

MR.  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  President  and  fellow  members  of  the 
Convention:  I  want  first  to  shy  a  little  brick  at  our  friend,  Mr.  Bassett, 
who  has  just  been  before  you,  because  of  the  fact  that  the  announce- 
ments that  we  have  made  as  to  the  place  of  holding  the  Convention  have 
stated  it  as  it  was  officially  given  to  us — "Exposition  Memorial  Hall." 
That  is,  as  I  understand  it,  the  official  title  of  this  building,  but  up  to 
this  time  there  is  no  one  in  San  Francisco  who  knows  it,  except  Mr. 
Bassett.  A  number  of  people  have  said  to  me,  "I  thought  the  place  of 
meeting  was  out  in  the  Exposition  grounds."  This  misunderstanding 
about  the  location  of  the  building  in  which  we  have  convened  has  un- 
doubtedly prevented  a  number  from  being  here  for  the  opening  session. 

I  want  to  say  first  that  the  early  appointment  of  a  Resolutions  Com- 
mittee is  a  very  important  matter.  When  we  have  a  Convention  extend- 
ing over  a  period  of  five  or  six  days,  it  is  practicable  to  allow  the  ap- 
pointment of  that  committee  to  be  postponed  until  after  the  opening 
session,  but  as  our  Convention  this  year  is  confined  to  three  days,  and  to 
less  than  one-half  the  ordinary  number  of  sessions,  it  will  be  necessary 
that  the  Resolutions  Committee  be  selected  at  the  earliest  time 
possible.  Our  By-Laws  provide  that  the  Resolutions  Committee  shall 
be  named  by  the  delegations  from  the  several  states,  so  that  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  Resolutions  Committee  is  entirely  beyond  the  control 
of  the  organization,  and  left  entirely  to  the  delegates  who  attend  the 
Convention.  The  purpose  is  that  we  may  get  the  best  thought  of  those 
who  are  not  directly  working  with  the  organization  and  come  here  as 
delegates.  Will  each  state  delegation,  therefore,  arrange  at  the  earliest 
time  possible  to  select  the  man  whom  they  will  ask  to  serve  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Resolutions  Committee? 

Let  me  say  further  that  all  resolutions,  according  to  our  By-Laws, 
must  be  submitted  in  writing,  and  referred  to  the  Resolutions  Committee 
without  debate,  and  that  every  member  of  the  Convention  is  privileged 
to  introduce  any  subject  to  the  Convention  which  he  desires  by  means 
of  a  resolution. 

T  hope  that  the  important  matters  which  are  vital  to  the  further 
progress  and  development  of  mining  will  be  presented  by  those  of  you 
who  know  what  those  problems  are,  and  I  am  sure  the  things  for  which 
you  ask  redress  will  receive  the  best  attention  of  the  Convention, 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  17 

The  American  Mining  Congress  is,  first  of  all,  an  organization  to  get 
things  done.  We  leave  the  scientific  matters  for  scientific  organizations  and 
devote  ourselves  to  the  accomplishment  of  certain  purposes.  The  or- 
ganization is  guided  throughout  the  succeeding  year  by  the  resolutions 
of  the  Convention.  We  hope,  therefore,  that  these  resolutions  offered 
will  be  representative  of  the  best  thought  of  the  mining  industry  at 
this  tkne. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Gentlemen,  do  not  forget  to  select  your 
members  of  the  Resolutions  Committee  at  the  earliest  time  possible. 

1  will  now  call  on  Professor  Charles  F.  Willis,  Tucson,  Arizona, 
Director  of  the  Arizona  Bureau  of  Mines,  to  respond  to  the  address  of 
welcome. 

PROFESSOR  WILLIS:  Ladies  and  gentlemen:  Arizona  wishes 
to  extend  its  greetings  and  best  wishes  to  the  American  Mining  Con- 
gress, to  the  State  of  California  and  to  the  City  of  San  Francisco. 

Arizona  owes  much  to  the  American  Mining  Congress.  Nine 
months  ago  there  were  but  fifteen  members  in  the  Mining  Congress  from 
Arizona;  now  there  are  almost  500.  Inspired  by  the  meeting  in  Phoenix 
during  last  December,  the  Arizona  Chapter  of  the  American  Mining 
Congiess  was  organized,  and  is  rapidly  growing.  This  Chapter  has 
been  extremely  active;  it  has  prevented  a  great  deal  of  seemingly  detri- 
mental legislation;  it  has  brought  about  a  friendly  feeling  among  the 
mining  companies;  it  has  shown  the  business  man  his  real  relation  to 
the  mining  industry,  and  it  has  demonstrated  to  the  farmer  the  value, 
of  co-operative  upbuilding.  It  has  assisted  the  School  of  Mines  by 
greatly  increasing  its  appropriations  and  has  been  instrumental  in  the 
organization  of  the  State  Bureau  of  Mines.  An  immense  amount  of 
work  has  been  accomplished  in  nine  months,  and  we  have  a  lot  of  boost- 
ers in  Arizona  who  are  going  to  push  it  right  along  (applause)  and  who 
are  going  to  stay  with  it.  We  are  going  to  make  the  Arizona  Chapter 
known  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other. 
The  state  again  extends  its  greetings. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  When  we  were  at  Phoenix  last  year— 
and,  incidentally,  it  is  quite  gratifying  to  know  that  we  accomplished 
something — there  was  one  man  there  who  told  us  a  great  deal  about 
Texas.  Most  of  us  who  live  in  the  East  look  upon  Texas  as  the  home 
of  the  long-horned  cattle,  and  do  not  know  much  about  the  mining  in- 
dustry down  there,  but  this  gentleman  made  us  believe  the  state  pro- 
duced everything  from  gold  to  diamonds.  But  it  would  seem  that  this 
gentleman,  after  he  had  made  this  great  and  glowing  talk,  felt  that 
after  all  he  could  not  deliver  the  goods  in  Texas,  so  he  moved  to  Colo- 
rado, because  Colorado  was  a  mining  state.  The  gentleman  I  refer  to 
is  Dr.  Phillips,  the  President  of  the  Colorado  School  of  Mines,  who  will 
now  speak  to  us.  (Applause.) 

DR.  WILLIAM  B.  PHILLIPS:  Mr.  President  and  fellow  mem- 
bers: It  is  true  that  we  told  the  most  awful  lies  last  year  at  Phoenix! 
(Laughter.)  One  gets  in  the  habit  of  doing  so  out  in  that  southwest 
country,  and  I  have  known  very  few  men  even  of  my  age — and  my  years 
go  back  now  to  the  Civil  War  period — who  can  live  in  the  southwest 
and  continue  to  tell  the  truth.  (Laughter.)  That's  especially  true  in 
the  great  old  State  of  Texas,  and  I  will  admit  that  I  did  tell  some  dread- 
ful stories  at  Phoenix  last  year!  (Laughter.)  And  the  President  is  per- 
fectly right  in  saying,  finding  myself  unable  to  "deliver  the  goods"  I 
went  into  a  state  where  there  are  bigger  liars  than  in  Texas!  (Laugh- 
ter.) Mark  Twain  once  defined  a  m.ine.^  yon  know,  and  I  have  thought 
that  his  definition  ought  to  be  in  the  dictionaries.  Mark's  definition  of 
a  mine  was  about  to  this  effect,  that  a  mine  is  "a  hole  in  the  ground, 
owned  by  a  liar!"  (Laughter.)  And  he  went  on  further  to  say  that  a  lie 
was  "an  abomination  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,"  and  "a  very  present  help 
in  the  time  of  trouble!"  (Laughter.)  I  have  so  recently  removed  from 
Texas  to  Colorado  that  I  am  unable  to  respond  for  the  State  of  Colorado 
as  its  importance  deserves.  I  can  only  give  to  the  American  Mining 


18  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

Congress  the  sincerest  greetings  from  that  commonwealth,  with  the 
hope  that  its  next  meeting,  or  certainly  one  of  its  succeeding  meetings, 
shall  be  held  in  the  City  of  Denver. 

I  have  recently  moved  into  that  state  to  take  charge  of  the  Colorado 
State  School  of  Mines,  and  1  am  sure  it  will  give  us  a  great  gratification 
if  ever}'  member  of  this  Mining  Congress  should  come  there  to  see  it, 
and  I  am  sure  we  would  welcome  this  entire  Congress,  and  see  that  all 
the  facilities  of  that  great  state  and  of  that  school  were  offered  to  them. 

It  is  quite  impossible  to  speak*  at  length  on  the  State  of  Colorado 
to  the  American  Mining  Congress  in  the  space  of  two  minutes.  I  have 
already  exceeded  that  time,  and  I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  the  very 
patient  attention  you  have  given  to  this  little  lie  of  mine!  (Laughter 
and  applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  We  have  with  us  this  morning  one 
miner  of  the  old  school.  I  refer  to  Mr.  Gardner  F.  Williams,  of  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  who  will  respond  for  the  District  of  Columbia.  (Applause.) 

MR.  WILLIAMS:  Mr.  Chairman,  ladies  and  gentlemen:  I  came 
here  with  no  idea  of  speaking.  I  received  a  card  yesterday  saying  that 
the  members  of  this  Congress  would  extend  to  me  all  the  privileges 
of  a  delegate  if  I  would  attend  its  meetings,  and  I  have  come  here  in 
response  to  that  invitation. 

I  do  not  represent  the  District  of  Columbia  as  an  official  delegate, 
although  I  reside  there. 

There  are  quite  a  large  number  of  delegates  here  from  th«  Geo- 
logical Survey  and  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  and  I  should  have  been  more 
pleased  if  one  of  these  gentlemen  had  been  asked  to  respond  for  the 
.District  of  Columbia  and  I  had  been  asked  to  speak  on  some  subject 
connected  with  my  work  as  a  mining  engineer,  which  dates  back  to 
the  old  school,  as  President  Scholz  has  said. 

I  was  graduated  in  1865  at  the  College  of  California  in  Oakland, 
which  was  the  preflecessor  of  the  present  university.  I  took  a  post- 

fraduate  course  of  three  years  in  mining  and  metallurgy  at  the  Royal 
fining  Academy  at  Freiberg,  Saxony.  At  that  time  the  courses  of 
lectures  were  given  by  some  of  the  ablest  men,  then  known  in  Europe, 
on  the  various  subjects  taught  on  mining  and  metallurgical  engineering. 
But  long  before  those  men  were  lecturing  to  the  students  at  the  Frei- 
berg Academy,  in  fact,  it  was  about  the  middle  of  the  Sixteenth  Cen- 
tury, a  book  on  mining  and  metallurgy  was  written  by  Agricola  and  pub- 
lished in  Latin.  There  is  also  an  old  German  translation  of  this  won- 
derful book,  I  believe — and  today,  if  you  will  read  the  Agricola  that  our 
friends  Mr.  and  Mrs.  H.  C.  Hoover  have  translated  from  the  Latin  into 
English,  and  which  contains  all  the  quaint  illustrations  of  the  original 
book,  you  will  find  therein  many  illustrations  and  descriptions  of  mining 
and  metallurgical  processes  that  are  similar  to  those  employed  at  the 
present  time. 

But  I  do  not  go  back  as  far  as  Agricola's  time  in  my  experience. 
(Laughter.) 

I  returned  to  California  after  completing  my  studies  at  Freiberg  and 
for  sixteen  years  was  actively  engaged  in  mining  in  several  states  on  the 
Pacific  coast. 

In  1884,  I  was  appointed  general  manager  of  an  English  company 
engaged  in  mining  for  gold  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Transvaal  Re- 
public, South  Africa. 

On  my  return  voyage  to  England  I  nieti  Cecil  Rhodes  and,  as  the 
voyage  lasted  eighteen  days,  we  became  well  acquainted. 

I  returned  again  to  South  Africa  at  the  end  of  1886  and  met  Mr. 
Rliodes  again  while  passing  through  Kimberly.  After  a  few  days'  stay 
at  Kimberly,  I  proceeded  to  the  Transvaal  to  carry  out  instructions  of 
the  Exploration  Company,  Ltd.,  of  London,  in  whose  interests  I  had 
gone  to  South  Africa.  Later,  at  Mr.  Rho'des'  request,  my  engagement 
with  this  company  was  cancelled  by  mutual  consent,  so  that  1  might  take 
over  the  management  of  the  DeBeers  Mining  Company. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  10 

The  story  of  the  great  diamond  mines  would  fill  volumes,  but  suffice 
it  to  say  on  this  occasion  that  when  1  took  charge  of  these  mines  nearly 
all  the  work  was  being  done  in  the  open  and  it  tell  to  my  lot  to  Develop 
them,  by  sinking  vertical  shafts,  equipped  with  modern  machinery.  The 
growth  of  the  improvements  in  machinery  may  be  best  realized  by  stat- 
ing that  the  largest  engine  at  the  DeBeers  mine  was  only  forty  horse- 
power when  1  assumed  charge  in  May,  1887,  and  that  today  there  are 
probably  twenty  engines,  ranging  from  2,000  to  5,000  horsepower  at  the 
rive  mines.  In  190/,  the  company  employed  over  4,000  white  men  and 
27,000  Kaffirs.  At  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year,  June  30,  1914,  there  were 
2,963  white  men  and  nearly  17,000  Kaffirs  employed.  The  amount  of 
diamond-bearing  ground  hoisted  from  DeBeers  and  Kimberly  mines 
for  the  fiscal  year  ending  March  31st,  1889,  was  755,760  tons.  These 
were  the  only  mines  worked  by  the  DeBeers  Company  during  that  year. 
The  output  trom  three  of  the  company's  mines,  exclusive  of  those  men- 
tioned above,  during  the  year  ending  June  30th,  1914,  was  7,067,000  tons. 
The  revenue  for  the  same  period  was  £5,850,000  (over  $28,000,000),  out 
of  which  dividends  amounting  to  £2,050,000  were  paid. 

- 1  have  always  felt  that  one  owes  much  to  the  community  in  which 
one  lives.  Mining  towns  are  dependent  on  the  mines  for  nearly  every- 
thing, and  in  South  Africa  there  is  no  exception.  Fortunately,  we  had 
Cecil  Rhodes  at  the  head  of  DeBeers  Consolidated  Mines,  to  whom, 
in  a  great  measure,  credit  for  the  comforts  of  the  employes  of  DeBeers 
is  due,  but  I  may  add  all  the  directors  and  those  connected  with  the 
management  of  the  company  gave  him  loyal  support  in  his  effort  to 
make  the  employes  and  their  families  happy  and  contented. 

It  was  a  pleasure  to  manage  a  company  of  this  magnitude,  employ- 
ing during  my  time  over  3,000  white  men  and  20,000  natives,  all  satisfied 
with  their  work  and  the  remuneration  they  received.  It  was  always  the 
aim  of  the  managers  to  deal  with  the  employes  in  a  friendly  manner,  to 
listen  to  their  grievances,  if  they  had  any,  and  give  their  requests  due 
consideration.  The  results  were  that  strikes  were  never  thought  of, 
much  less  carried  out. 

I  have  already  said  that  one  owes  something  to  the  community  in 
which  one  lives.  Personally,  I  felt  the  necessity  of  "doing  something 
for  the  benefit  of  the  boys  who  wished  to  study  mining  engineering. 
While  engaged  in  carrying  on  the  great  work  entrusted  to  me,  I  was 
instrumental,  with  the  assistance  of  others,  in  getting  a  grant  from  the 
government  of  the  Cape  Colony  and  from  DeBeers  Company  sufficient 
to  erect  buildings  and  get  the  necessary  equipment  for  a  School  of 
Mines,  and  in  addition  to  this  to  get  money  enough  to  pay  the  teaching 
staff.  This  school  prospered,  but  it  had  its  troubles,  the  greatest  of 
these  being-  the  Boer  War. 

A  good  sound  mining  education  was  gifen  to  a  large  number  of 
young  men  at  Kimberly  and  was  discontinued  only  when  those  inter- 
ested in  mining  at  Johannesburg  subscribed  £100,000  (about  $500,000)— 
you  know  that  is  a  great  deal  of  money — and  when  the  Transvaal  Govern- 
ment contributed  an  equal  amount  for  a  School  of  Mines  at  Johannes- 
burg— and  better  facilities  for  teaching  were  established  there. 

During  the  years  I  was  absent  from  California  I  kept  in  touch  with 
its  university,  my  Alma  Mater,  and  more  especially  with  the  Department 
of  Mines. 

In  1910  I  was  honored  by  .having  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws 
conferred  on  me  by  the  university. 

In  conclusion,  I  will  only  add  that  I  feel  guilty  of  having  digressed 
from  the  subject  on  which  the  Chairman  said  I  would  respond,  namely, 
for  the  District  of  Columbia,  but  this  District  is  represented  here  by 
the  Directors  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  and  the  Bureau  of  Mines, 
and  by  other  gentlemen  who  have  resided  there  for  many  years  and  who 
are  better  able  to  tell  you  of  the  beautiful  City  of  Washington  and  its 
surroundings  than  I,  a  resident  of  only  a  few  years,  could  possibly  de- 
scribe to  vou. 


20  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

I  have  lived  up  to  what  I  think  a  good  citizen  owes  to  the  commu- 
nity in  which  he  lives.  I  was  Acting  President  of  the  University  Club 
of  Washington  for  nearly  a  year,  owing  to  the  illness  and  death  of  the 
late  Senator  Elkins,  and  President  of  the  club  for  two  years  following, 
during  which  the  plans  for  the  present  clubhouse  were  perfected  and 
the  building  was  completed. 

The  Directors  of  the  Emergency  Hospital  Board  of  Washington 
completed  a  hospital  building  during  the  present  year  and  it  now  stands 
as  a  monument  to  those  who  contributed  so  liberally  to  the  building 
fund  and  a  blessing  to  all  who  come  within  its  doors.  I  am  proud  to 
have  been  a  member  of  the  Board  during  the  greater  part  of  the  time 
I  have  resided  there,  and  to  feel  that  during  that  time  I  have  assisted 
in  the  completion  of  this  hospital. 

As  an  old  resident  of  California,  I  wish  to  join  with  other  members 
of  this  state  in  giving  you  a  hearty  welcome  here.  (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  There  is  a  gentleman  in  this  room  who 
took  his  life  in  his  hands  by  coming  with  me  on  this  trip.  I  have  known 
him  for  a  number  of  years,  but  I  have  come  to  know  him  better  during 
the  last  four  days.  In  addition  to  the  pleasure  of  visiting  with  him  dur- 
ing the  course  of  our  regular  schedule  in  coming  westward,  our  visit 
was  prolonged  by  a  railroad  accident  which  delayed  us  and  gave  us  four 
more  days  together.  I  am  going  to  call  on  Mr.  John  P.  Reese  of  Gilles- 
pie,  Illinois,  .to  respond  for  his  state.  (Applause.) 

MR.  REESE:  Mr.  Chairman,  ladies  and  gentlemen:  I  feel  wholly 
unprepared  to  represent  the  State  of  Illinois  at  this  Mining  Congress.  1 
consider  that  Illinois,  having  contributed  the  President  to  this  gathering, 
has  already  done  her  full  duty.  It  would  seem  also  that  I  have  contrib- 
uted my  share  by  helping  to  take  care  of  the  President  on  the  trip 
from  Chicago  to  Frisco.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  We  had  a  very 
pleasant  journey,  being  only  twelve  hours  late,  and  encountering  a  few 
other  things,  but  I  am  like  the  boy  at  the  taffy  pulling — I  am  glad  I'm 
here.  I  came  to  look  and  listen  and  not  to  talk  or  attempt  to  teach. 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  attending  a  mining  congress  as  a  representa- 
tive of  the  State  of  Iowa  some  fourteen  years  ago  over  at  Boise,  Idaho. 
I  always  regretted  that  I  did  not  go  through  to  the  coast  at  that  time. 
This  is  my  first  trip  to  the  coast,  and  so  far  I  am  very  well  impressed, 
and  I  hope  that  the  Mining  Congress  will  be  a  howling  success.  It's 
pretty  far  from  the  coal  mines  of  Illinois,  and  I  do  not  expect  to  meet 
many  of  my  "coaleagues"  here!  (Laughter.)  But  the  President  being  a 
miner  and  from  the  State  of  Illinois,  we  feel  that  Governor  Dunne  is 
properly  taken  care  of  and  Illinois  sufficiently  represented  without  any 
address  of  welcome  or  response  to  an  address  of  welcome  from  me.  I 
thank  you  very  much.  (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  I  am  told  that  death  and  taxes  are  two 
things  that  none  of  us  can  escape.  I  have  learned  a  good  deal  about 
taxes,  because  in  our  district  the  taxes  have  recently  been  raised,  and  it 
took  almost  all  of  my  worldly  possessions  to  pay  my  tax  bill  this  sea- 
son, and  it's  just  by  the  narrowest  margin  that  I  am  able  to  come  here. 
There  is  a  man  here  who  knows  all  about  the  raising  of  taxes,  and  I  am 
told — in  fact,  I  know  from  experience — that  he  is  an  expert  at  it.  How- 
ever, I  am  going  to  let  you  judge  for  yourselves  by  calling  upon  Mr. 
R.  C.  Allen  to  tell  us  how  they  raise  taxes  in  Michigan,  and  what  he 
thinks  of  San  Francisco  and  the  Fair.  (Applause.) 

MR.  ALLEN:  Mr.  President  and- gentlemen:  I  come  to  you  from 
Michigan,  the  place  to  which  the  President  refers,  where  taxes,  as  well 
as  other  valuable  products,  are  "raised."  I  bring  to  you  a  word  of 
greeting  from  the  Governor,  the  mining  men,  and  the  people  of  Michigan. 
My  instructions  are  to  attend  the  sessions  of  the  Mining  Congress  and 
to  gather  up  all  of  the  ideas  and  information  that  are  produced  which 
may  be  of  use  or  value  to  the  State  of  Michigan.  That's  why  I  am  here. 

It  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  attend  four  or  five  of  the  annual 
meetings  of  the  Mining  Congress.  These  meetings  are  an  inspiration. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  21 

Here  we  meet  old  friends  and  make  new  ones,  and  gather  new  ideas  and 
new  experiences.  I  am  sorry  that  Michigan  is  not  better  represented 
here,  both  in  numbers  and  in  the  personnel  of  its  representatives.  But 
please  do  not  measure  the  interest  which  Michigan  has  in  the  Mining 
Congress  and  the  'welfare  of  the  mining  industry  by  the  size  of  its  dele- 
gation. Michigan  is  very  much  interested  in  the  work  of  the  Mining 
Congress  and  with  all  that  has  to  do  with  the  mining  industry. 

My  friend  from  Arizona  has  referred  to  the  value  of  last  year's 
meeting  of  the  Mining  Congress  to  the  mining  industry  of  Arizona.  I 
heartily  hope  that  the  Mining  Congress  will  come  to  Michigan  some 
time  in  the  near  future.  It  may  do  us  an  equal  amount  of  good. 

One  of  the  things  that  the  Congress — the  Mining  Congress — has 
done,  one  of  the  things  that  deserves  the  support  of  all  of  us  who  are 
in  the  mining  industry,  or  who  are  allied  with  the  mining  industry,  is 
the  publication  of  the  journal  which  I  hold  in  my  hand.  Only  a  few 
numbers  have  been  issued.  I  trust  that  all  of  you  are  familiar  with  it. 
It  is  a  journal  that  is  filling  a  very  great  need  throughout  the  country, 
and  I  think  that  our  Secretary  is  to  be  congratulated  on  the  magnificent 
journal  that  he  is  now  publishing.  I  thank  you.  (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  There  is  a  gentleman  in  this  room  who 
comes  from  a  state  where  they  say,  "You  have  got  to  show  me!"  I  refer 
to  Mr.  Otto  Ruhl,  of  Joplin,  Missouri,  who  has  charge  of  the  Missouri 
exhibit  at  the  Fair,  and  who  can  give  us  pointers  on  what  we  will  see 
and  what  we  have  missed  by  not  being  here  sooner.  (Applause.) 

MR.  RUHL:  Mr.  Chairman,  ladies  and  gentlemen  and  friends:  It 
certainly  gives  me  a  great  deal  of  pleasure  to  be  at  these  meetings  of  the 
American  Mining  Congress,  and  I  certainly  am  very  glad  to  be  here 
in  the  position  of  host  as  well  as  delegate,  because  I  want  to  invite  every 
member  who  is  a  visiting  delegate  and  all  of  their  friends  to  be  at  the 
mining  building  as  much  as  they  possibly  can  during  this  week.  We 
have  done  all  we  can  to  make  it  pleasant  for  you  and  hope  you  will  enjoy 
yourselves.  We  want  you  to  "go  the  limit"  while  you  are  here  with  us. 

With  regard  to  the  Mining  Congress  itself,  I  have  had  the  pleasure 
of  being  at  several  of  the  meetings.  At  none  of  these  have  I  had  greater 
pleasure,  of  course,  than  the  one  in  my  home  town,  Joplin. 

The  Joplin  district  owes  a  great  deal  to  the  American  Mining  Con- 
gress, and  I.  wish  to  pay  tribute  at  this  time  to  the  things  it  has  done 
for  us,  and  we  hope  in  some  measure  at  some  time  to  re,pay  those  things 
in  the  support  we  may  give  the  American  Mining  Congress.  We  are 
of  course  facing  a  great  many  of  the  same  problems  in  much  the  same 
way  that  we  have  faced  our  problems  in  the  past,  and  the  American 
Mining  Congress,  I  am  sure,  will  contribute  to  their  solution  in  like 
measure  and  will  assist  in  successfully  meeting  all  those  issues  which 
we  will  be  compelled  to  face  in  the  very  near  future.  At  this  session 
of  the  American  Mining  Congress  I  hope  that  we  will  be  able  to  get 
a  closer  affiliation  of  the  various  mining  interests  and  look  at  our  prob- 
lems more  from  a  national  standpoint. 

In  this  connection,  like  Mr.  Allen  from  Michigan,  I  feel  that  we 
are  going  to  have  a  great  deal  of  assistance  through  the  publication  of  the 
new  journal  which  is  being  put  before  us  by  the  American  Mining  Con- 
gress. I  have  read  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure  the  numbers  that  have 
been  published,  and  I  have  already  seen  the  seeds  that  were  being 
planted  for  a  great  harvest  in  the  future. 

We  have  all  been  negligent,  we  have  all  been  indifferent  to  the 
national  legislation  that  is  being  carried  on  in  regard  to  our  mining  in- 
terests, and  by  reading  the  new  journal  I  am  sure  we  will  be  enlightened 
and  will  be  able  to  take  care  of  our  interests  in  better  shape  than  hitherto. 
(Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  Harry  L.  Day,  Vice  President  of 
the  American  Mining  Congress,  and  a  resident  of  the  State  of  Idaho,  will 
respond  for  his  State. 


OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

MR.  DAY:  I  beg  your  pardon,  Mr.  President,  1  did  not  hear  you 
exactly. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  I  called  on  Mr.  Day  to  respond  for  his 
state.  Do  you  hear  it  now?  You  heard  me  the  first  time,  I  think. 
(Laughter.) 

MR.  DAY:     Yes,  I  got  you,  Mr.  President. 

MR.  DAY:  Mr.  President,  ladies  and  gentlemen:  I  just  got  in 
and  took  a  rear  seat  and  did  not  understand  there  were  going  to  be  any 
speeches  made  this  morning.  I  have  not  been  on  a  program  for  a  long 
time.  We  have  not  much  to  report,  unless  it  be  that  we  have  been  work- 
ing so  hard  this  year  trying  to  get  the  high  prices  for  zinc  and  copper 
and  lead  and  other  trifles  of  that  sort  that  we  have  not  had  much  time 
to  do  anything  else.  But  we  can  simply  report  progress  all  along  the 
line,  and  say  that  we  are  busy.  A  number  of  our  prominent  mining  peo- 
ple are  in  the  city,  I  believe,  and  I  think  more  will  be  here  during  the 
day,  so  that  we  will  have  a  representative  delegation.  We  shall  be  very 
much  interested,  as  usual,  in  all  the  affairs  of  this  Congress.  (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  George  H.  Utter,  of  Silver  City, 
will  respond  for  the  State  of  New  Mexico. 

MR.  UTTER:  Mr.  President,  members,  ladies  and  gentlemen:  It 
is  quite  unexpected  on  my  part  that  I  am  called  upon  to  respond  for 
New  Mexico  to  the  address  of  welcome.  My  work  is  not  usually  in  the 
line  of  public  speaking. 

New  Mexico  extends  greetings  to  San  Francisco.  We  rejoice  that 
we  as  a  state  and  people  exist  at  this  time,  thus  enabling  us  to  see  your 
city  in  its  beauty  and  the  fullness  of  its  glory.  We  congratulate  you 
upon  the  creation  and  management  of  the  Panama-Pacific  Exposition, 
the  greatest  of  its  kind  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and  probably  the 
greatest  the  world  will  have  during  the  next  500  years. 

New  Mexico  covers  122,000  square  miles,  bounded  on  the  north  by 
Colorado,  on  the  east  by  Oklahoma  and  Texas,  on  the  south  by  Texas 
and  Mexico,  and  on  the  west  by  Arizona.  What  the  heart  is  to  the  body, 
New  Mexico  is  to  this  great  and  wonderful  southwestern  country,  with 
a  climate  unexcelled  in  any  part  of  the  world  and  which,  owing  to  its 
various  altitudes,  fits  every  condition  that  humanity  demands.  As  a 
herding  and  grazing  country,  the  year  round,  it  cannot  be  excelled.  As 
a  farming  and  fruit-growing  country  it  -is  just  beginning  to  come  into 
its  own.  Our  apples  have  the  flavor  of  the  New  York  and  Michigan 
varieties.  The  coal  mines  of  the  north  and  central  New  Mexico  can 
supply  the  world  as  long  as  coal  is  in  demand.  Its  iron,  copper,  gold 
and  silver  mines  have  been  producing  profitably  on  such  a  large  scale  for 
so  long  a  period  that  it  is  a  waste  of  your  time  to  tell  you  about  these 
resources  that  are  now  recognized  as  being  practically  unlimited.  We 
have  a  spot  cash  market  for  everything  we  can  raise. 

All  these  have  brought  New  Mexico  strictly  to  the  front  as  a  legiti- 
mate producer.  There  is  one  crop,  however,  that  we  don't  want,  and 
that  is  the  sucker  crop;  we  pass  that  on.  We  feel  that  one  man  who 
spends  his  money  and  does  not  get  a  return  therefor  is  a  detriment  to 
the  country.  We  want  to  see  results  in  everything,  and  we  desire  that 
good  results  be  produced  by  everybody  that  comes  to  New  Mexico.  I 
thank  you. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  On  my  way  West,  I  stopped  at  a  city 
by  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  and  I  found  that  the  very  man  I  looked  for  had 
already  gone,  but  he  turned  up  this  morning  at  the  Convention,  and  I 
am  going  to  call  on  Dr.  James  E.  Talmage  to  speak  for  the  State  of 
Utah.  (Applause.^ 

DR.  TALMAGE:  Mr.  President,  delegates,  members,  and  all:  I 
thought  my  cup  of  satisfaction  was  full  this  morning  when  I  realized 
that  I  would  be  able  to  reach  San  Francisco  in  time  to  be  present  at  the 
opening  session  of  this  Congress.  The  honor  of  addressing  you  I  had 
not  expected  to  receive,  but  in  responding  to  the  very  hearty  welcome 
that  has  been  extended  to  me  by  the  representative  of  the  great  Panama- 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  23 

Pacific  International  Exposition,  I  feel  that  I  can  safely  express  un- 
bounded satisfaction  and  appreciation  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  the 
State  of  Utah,  of  the  many  hundreds  of  great  national  and  international 
gatherings  that  have  been  held  in  this  city  in  connection  with  the  Expo- 
sition* thus  far.  This  is  the  third  which  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  at- 
tending, and  in  the  proceedings  of  which  I  have  participated,  and  I  know 
therefore  by  experience  what  the  hospitality  of  San  Francisco  and  of 
the  Exposition  and  of  the  great  State  of  California  means. 

The  work  of  the  Mining  Congress  has  appealed  to  me  from  the 
beginning  of  the  history  of  the  organization,  and  fearing  that  perhaps 
taxes  would  be  raised,  I  took  occasion  early  in  its  history  to  become  a 
life  member!  (Laughter.)  And  so  be  exempt  from  any  increase  in  levies 
for  the  operation  of  the  Congress!  (Laughter  and  applause.) 

The  people  of  Utah,  and  particularly  those  of  Salt  Lake  City,  some- 
times refer  facetiously  to  San  Francisco  as  one  of  our  suburbs  with  a 
few  hundred  miles  of  desert  and  sand  in  between,  and  we  run  dowrn 
into  the  suburbs  when  we  want  to  enjoy  ourselves  in  any  way  out  of 
the  ordinary!  (Laughter.)  We  are  here  to  take  part  with  you  in  the 
proceedings  of  the  Congress,  in  the  spirit  of  the  past  sessions.  The 
earnestness  which  has  pervaded  the  proceedings  in  the  past  has  ap- 
pealed to  me.  The  meetings  of  the  American  Mining  Congress,  and  far 
back,  when  it  was  known  as  the  International  Mining  Congress,  have 
seemed  to  me  to  be  working  meetings.  They  have  not  been  picnics 
nor  mere  excuses  for  outings,  but  every  session,  every  gathering,  has 
accomplished  something.  It's  an  organization  with  influence  and  prestige 
and  the  Government  of  the  United  States  listens  to  its  suggestions  and 
its  propositions. 

In  LUah,  we  are  working  heartily  and  unitedly  for  the  further  de- 
velopment and  advancement  of  the  mining  interests.  There  Mormon, 
Gentile  and  Jew  work  together  as  brothers,  and  we  have  to  get  away 
from  the  state  before  we  realize  that  some  people  think  there  are  ele- 
ments of  disruption  there  operative.  We  work  as  one,  and  are  busily 
engaged  in  developing  the  great  resources  of  the  state.  I  am  limited  to 
two  minutes,  and  it  would  take  me  two  years  to  fairly  begin  to  tell  you 
what  those. resources  are.  Therefore,  I  content  myself  with  expressing 
with  great  earnestness  the  satisfaction  I  feel  for  myself  and  for  the 
State  of  LTtah  in  the  great  welcome  that  has  been  extended  to  us.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  You  have  noticed  the  embarrassment 
which  I  labored  under  when  this  Congress  was  opened,  and  after  I 
finish  these  remarks  you  will  see  the  reason.  There  is  a  gentleman  in 
this  room  who  served  the  Mining  Congress  for  seven  long  years.  Some- 
where in  the  Bible  there  is  a  quotation  that  "there  were  seven  fat  years 
and  seven  lean  years."  Ihe  "seven  fat  years"  are  the  period  during 
which  he  served  as  President  of  this  organization,  and  the  "seven  lean 
years"  are  just  closing.  I  think  there  are  "seven  fat  years''  ahead  of 
you.  Before  I  came  to  the  first  meeting  of  the  Mining  Congress  I  had 
Mr.  Callbreath  send  to  me  a  full  set  of  the  annual  proceedings,  and  I 
read  with  much  interest  the  speeches  or  annual  addresses  of  the  Presi- 
dents for  the  purpose  of  drawing  from  them  as  much  wisdom  as  I  could 
absorb,  and  in  them  I  have  been  amply  repaid  by  reading  the  addresses 
of  the  gentleman  I  am  going  to  call  on  next,  because  of  all  the  clean-cut 
speakers — if  there  is  such  a  word — Judge  J.  H.  Richards,  of  Boise,  Idaho, 
impresses  me  the  best,  and  he  is  now  going  to  address  this  meeting. 
(Applause.) 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  Mr.  President  and  fellow  members:  I  stand 
out,  apparently,  as  the  type  of  a  fat  man  in  the  Congress.  (Laughter.) 
I  know  I  have  grown  somewhat  fleshy — intellectually — by  coining  into 
contact  with  the  men  of  this  Congress  during  those  "seven  fat  years" 
that  were  mentioned  a  while  ago,  but  I  do  not  express  it  very  fully  in 
my  physical  being  as  yet,  and  certainly  I  have  never  expressed  it  finan- 
cially. 


24  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

At  the  beginning,  as  has  been  said,  the  Mining  Congress  was  estab- 
lished or  organized  as  the  exponent  of  the"  great  mining  industry  of  this 
nation,,  because  it  reaches  down  into  every  fiber  of  American  industry, 
underlying  and  forming  a  base  for  a  large  part  of  its  development.  It 
has  produced  some  of  the  greatest  characters  that  have  lived  in  America, 
and  I  especially  at  this  time  appreciate  the  welcome  that  has  been  ex- 
tended by  California,  because  it  was  the  gold  that  came  from  her  soil 
that  gave  this  nation  one  of  her  greatest  inspirations  and  made,  it  pos- 
sible for  us  to  develop  the  great  industries  that  are  established  through- 
out this  whole  country.  Those  men  who  laid  the  foundation  here  in 
California,  laid  the  legal  foundation  for  the  entire  northwest.  Our  laws 
grew  put  of  the  customs  that  they  established  here,  and  through  their 
great  influence  and  that  of  the  men  that  emigrated  from  here  into  the 
states  of  the  whole  western  country,  the  nation  received  new  inspiration. 
And  yet  at  this  hbur,  as  you  will  hear  before  this  Congress  adjourns, 
the  very  policies  that  they  established,  and  that  gave  us  such  grand 
possibilities  as  we  have  experienced,  are  undertaken  to  be  perverted,  as 
I  understand.  And  it  is  a  pleasure  to  be  welcomed  here  at  San  Francisco, 
also,  because  our  foundations  rest  upon  the  mining  industry  that  our 
pioneers  laid  broad  and  deep;  and  no  one  can  read  the  history  of  the 
mining  industry  of  California  without  feeling  that  she  has  had  one  of 
the  largest  parts  in  making  America  what  it  is  today.  This  Exposition 
shows  the  character  of  the  men  that  are  underneath  it — nothing  like  it 
in  the  world.  You  will  see  nothing  in  the  world  such  as  you  will  see 
here.  Look  at  this  Civic  Center  where  we  stand.  Everything  you  touch 
and  that  touches  you  seems  to  be  an  inspiration  for  something  better, 
pleasanter  and  grander,  and  I  am  glad  to  come  here  at  this  time  and 
have  a  part  in  this  welcome  from  California. 

Idaho  hasn't  done  so  very  much  in  her  ancient  history.  She  has 
been  producing  a  great  deal  of  lead  and  other  products.  The  gentleman 
who  preceded  me  from  Idaho  is  a  type  of  the  great  miners  of  that  state 
who  are  doing  things  up  there,  and  who  receive  their  inspiration  from 
the  men  of  California.  It's  almost  overwhelming,  and  I  suppose  this 
thought  will  be  intensified  before  I  get  through  seeing  the  wonderful 
things  in  California,  all  of  which  received  their  inspiration  originally 
through  mining.  I  express  the  appreciation  of  Idaho  for  the  men  that 
California  gives  to  this  Mining  Congress.  (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Are  there  any  other  gentlemen  who 
would  care  to  make  brief  remarks?  If  so,  we  would  be  glad  to  hear 
from  them.  If  there  are  not,  Mr.  Secretary,  have  you  anything  to  bring 
before  this  meeting?  Are  there  any  communications  to  be  read? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  have  a  communication  which  I 
am  sure  we  will  receive  gratefully,  which  I  will  read: 

The  White  House,  Washington,  Sept.  13,  1915. 
TO  THE  MEMBERS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS: 

It  is  a  matter  of  much  regret  to  me  that  it  is  again  impossible  for 
me  to  be  with  you  and  to  tell  you  personally  of  my  interest  in  the  efforts 
you  are  making  toward  greater  safety  and  better  living  conditions  for 
the  men  who  work  underground  as  well  as  for  a  higher  conservation  and 
a  more  efficient  utilization  of  our  mineral  resources. 

An  organization  such  as  yours,  comprising  prospector,  promoter, 
owner  and  miner,  should  be,  as  I  have  no  doubt  it  has  been,  the  means 
of  attaining  results  beneficial  to  all  connected  with  the  mining  industry. 
Your  opportunity  is  great  and  I  trust  it  will  be  your  good  fortune  to 
embrace  it  to  the  fullest  extent. 

With  best  wishes  for  a  successful  meeting,  I  am 

Cordially  yours, 

WOODROW  WILSON. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  If  I  may  be  pardoned.  I  would  like 
to  make  a  little  reference  to  what  has  been  said  by  two  gentlemen  here — 
very  complimentary  to  the  Mining  Congress  Journal.  As  most  of  you 
know,  for  a  number  of  years  we  published  a  monthly  bulletin  carrying 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  25 

only  the  Secretary's  talk  to  the  members  of  the  Congress^  and  such  mat- 
ters as  were  important;  but  it  was  a  spasmodic  publication.  A  year 
ago  at  the  Phoenix  meeting,  after  considerable  discussion,  the  Secretary 
was  instructed  to  begin  the  publication  of  a  monthly  journal.  We  real- 
ized at  the  outset  that  the  danger  of  creating  any  competition  or  rivalry 
with  any  of  the  regular  mining  trade  publications  must  be  avoided.  The 
Mining  Congress  needs  the  support,  and  has  had  the  support,  of  the 
mining  journals  of  this  country  to  a  very  great  extent,  and  we  feel  that 
we  must  have  that  in  the  future,  and  therefore  the  Mining  Congress 
Journal  must  occupy  a  different  field.  You  will  realize  how  difficult  it 
has  been  to  keep  ourselves  entirely  out  of  the  already  occupied  fields — 
the  discussion  of  scientific  subjects  and  of  the  practical  problems  of  oper- 
ative mining.  We  have  tried  to  keep  matters  of  this  kind  out  of  the 
Journal,  and  it  has  been  very  embarrassing  to  the  Secretary  to  refuse 
the  publication  of  three  or  four  articles  which  have  been  contributed  by 
some  of  the  best  friends  of  the  Mining  Congress,  who  felt  that  the  papers 
they  had  prepared  would  be  and  have  been  welcomed  in  other  publica- 
tions, and  that  would  be  a  help  to  the  Journal  to  have  those  articles. 
I  have  been  obliged  to  refuse  at  least  two  articles  that  any  trade  journal 
in  the  United  States  would  pay  a  handsome  price  for,  simply  because 
we  felt  that  by  the  publication  of.  such  articles  we  would  invade  the 
province  of  the  regular  trade  journals.  We  want  to  give  to  you  all  of 
the  news  from  Washington  concerning  matters  of  interest  to  mining  men, 
hearings  before  committees  on  mining  subjects,  bills  introduced  which 
will  have  a  good  or  bad  effect  upon  ycur  industry,  administrative  acts 
which  are  likely  to  be  of  importance  to  you,  matters  pending  before 
the  departments,  the  decision  of  which  will  affect  your  interests,  and,  as 
far  as  possible,  to  give  you  all  the  information  not  given  by  other  jour- 
nals but  which  you  ought  to  know  as  soon  as  possible  in  order  that  you 
may  decide  whether  you  should  support  or  oppose  such  measures  or 
proposed  acts.  We  hope,  through  the  system  we  have  established,  and 
the  close  co-operation  given  us  by  the  Bureaus  at  Washington  which 
have  to  do  with  mining,  that  we  can  give  you  in  advance  much  of  in- 
formation, some  of  which  the  departments  cannot  publish  for  months 
or  years  after  the  work  has  been  done.  We  hope  to  give  you  a  synopsis 
of  work  of  these  governmental  bureaus  which  serve  the  mining  industry 
at  a  much  earlier  time  than  you  would  otherwise  receive  it.  I  say  this 
so  that  you  will  understand  the  reason  why  we  refrain  from  publishing 
scientific  discussions  and  keep  ourselves  down  to  the  discussion  of 
economic  subjects  and  such  news  as  is  not  published  by  other  mining 
journals.  We  hope  that  the  Journal  will  be  a  real  advantage  to  the  men 
who  read  it,  and  I  am  sure,  as  our  organization  proceeds,  we  will  be  able 
to  give  you  a  much  better  service  than  in  the  past.  The  Journal,  as  you 
know,  is  sent  without  extra  charge  to  all  our  members,  and  as  the  basis 
of- associate  membership  is  simply  a  subscription  fo  the  Journal,  we  hope 
the  time  will  come  when  the  Journal  will  not  only  fill  a  need  for  you, 
but  that  through  it  we  may  carry  a  discussion  of  our  needs  to  people 
who  should  know  about  them,  in  order  that  we  may  create  that  public 
sentiment  which  is  so  necessary  to  our  success. 

Tomorrow  noon  we  shall  hold  a  memorial  service,  as  the  program 
shows,  and  we  are  anxious  that  everyone  in  the  City  of  San  Francisco 
who  would  like  to  pay  a  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  late  Di- 
rector of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  will  be  present  at  that  meeting.  We 
hope  to  give  everyone  an  opportunity  to  say  a  few  words,  with  the  un- 
derstanding that  the  stenographic  report  of  his  remarks  can  thereafter 
be  corrected  and  amplified  as  desired,  in  order  that  the  memorial  volume 
which  we  hope  to  publish,  carrying  the  proceedings  of  this  meeting,  will 
carry  to  the  family  of  Dr.  Holmes  a  correct  tribute  of  the  Mining  Con- 
gress and  its  members. 

On  Wednesday  we  are  to  have  a  banquet  in  honor  of  the  new  Di- 
rector of  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  and  we  hope  that  will  be  largely  attended, 
in  order  that  California  and  the  Mining  Congress  may  secure  the  most 


26  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

complete  working  co-operation  with  the  Bureau  of  Mines  in  its  future 
activities.  The  Bureau  of  Mines  is  today,  as  the  Geological  Survey  has 
been,  and  is,  a  great  agency  in  the  development  of  the  mining  industry 
in  the  West. 

Let  me  ask  you  now  to  select  your  member  of  the  Resolutions 
Committee.  As  stated  before,  ihe  committee  is  chosen  by  the  members 
representing  the  various  states  who  are  present.  If  there  are  several  del- 
egates from  one  state,  those  should  select  from  their  number  one  to 
represent  them  on  this  committee.  If  but  one  delegate  is  present  from 
any  state  he  should  name  the  man  whom  he  desires  to  serve  on  thaf 
committee  and  who  he  knows  is  in  the  city. 

Let  me  add,  that  the  memorial  service  will  be  held  in  this  hall;  the 
banquet  will  be  held  at  the  Palace  Hotel. 

The  roll  of  the  states  was  called  and  the  following  persons  namec 
as  members  of  the 

Resolutions  Committee. 

A.    L.    Carter,   Jerome Arizona. 

William   Maloney,   Nome Alaska. 

E.  Colcock  Jones,  Los  Angeles California. 

J.  C.  Roberts,  Denver Colorado. 

Gardner  F.  Williams,  Washington. ..  District     of    Columbia. 

J.  B.  ^Idridge,  Boise .Idaho. 

John  P.  Reese,  Gillespie Illinois. 

R.  C.  Allen,  Lansing Michigan. 

Otto  Ruhl,  Joplin Missouri. 

F.  S.  Lusk,  Missoula Montana. 

David   B.    Rushmore,   Schenectady . .  .New   York. 
Frederick    L.    Hoffman New  Jersey. 

.George  H.  Utter,  Silver  City New  Mexico. 

Dudley  Baldwin,  Cleveland Ohio. 

George  S.  Gray,  Portland Oregon. 

H.  M.  Wilson,  Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. 

Joseph  Hyde  Pratt,  Chapel  Hill North  Carolina. 

J.  C.  "Dick,  Salt  Lake  City Utah. 

W.  D.  Waltman,  Casper Wyoming. 

Richard  Mansfield  White,  Seattle.  ..  .Washington. 
J.  H.  Richards At  Large. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  On  the  front  page  of  the  program  you 
will  notice  the  little  note  regarding  the  disposition  of  the  program,  and 
I  am  going  to  call  on  the  Secretary  to  tell  you  just  what  he  had  in  mind 
when  that  clause  was  inserted. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  President,  what  I  had  in 
mind  was  this:  I  have  attended  a  number  of  Conventions  in  exposition 
cities,  and  have  found  that  the  exposition  was  so  much  of  an  attraction 
that  our  delegates,  like  delegates  to  the  other  Conventions,  have  been 
inclined  to  say:  "I  can  read  these  addresses  and  -discussions  in  the 
printed  proceedings  of  the  Convention,  and  this  is  my  only  opportunity 
to  see  the  Fair.  They  will  not  miss  me."  And  when  such  a  feeling  as 
that  is  universal,  it  leaves  speakers  without  respectable  audiences.  I 
hope  this  Convention  will  be  different,  and  that  the  .subjects  under  dis- 
cussion will  be  sufficiently  interesting  to  hold  all  the  delegates  in  the 
meeting,  but  those  who  feel  that  you  ought  to  spend  a  certain  amount 
of  your  limited  time  at  the  Exposition  rather  than  in  attendance  upon  a 
program  such  as  we  have  here  outlined,  we  ask  to  indicate  that  we 
should  shorten  up  these  meetings,  and  to  decide  upon  such  time  as  you 
are  willing  to  be  here.  We  have  outlined  a  form  of  program  which 
seemed  to  us  the  best  that  was  possible.  If  you  want  this  changed,  we 
will  change  it  to  meet  your  views,  but  having  agreed  that  this  or  any 
other  plan  is  right,  we  want  you  to  make  it  your  business  to  see  that 
proper  attention  is  given  to  the  discussions. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  27 

MR.  BASSETT:  Mr.  President,  may  I  make  two  points,  please? 
You  will  recall  your  Secretary  shied  a  brick  at  me,  and  because  this  is 
a  Mining  Convention,  I  take  it  that  it  was  a  gold  brick!  (Laughter.) 

Unfortunately,  this  building  has  been  named  "Exposition  Memo- 
rial Auditorium,"  ,a  name  which  will  not  continue  to  obtain,  because  it 
will  come  to  be  known,  as  it  is  now  known  to  most  San  Franciscans,  as 
the  "Municipal  Auditorium,"  or  the  "Civic  Center";  but  its  official  title 
this  year  is  the  "Exposition  Memorial  Auditorium,"  because  it  is  under 
the  control  of  the  Exposition,  and  does  belong  to  the  Exposition  at  the 
present  moment.  Out  of  the  money  subscribed  to  this  Exposition,  a 
million  dollars  was  taken  to  erect  this  Memorial  Auditorium  at  a  suffi- 
cient distance  from  the  Exposition  Grounds  so  that  no  Convention  del- 
egate could  say  that  we  were  trying  to  get  his  fifty  cents  admission  fee 
when  he  attended  the  sessions  of  his  Convention.  (Laughter.)  And 
you  who  have  attended,  expositions  before  know  that  such  a  practice 
has  been  followed  in  most  instances.  We  wanted  to  avoid  that  difficulty, 
and  in  the  generosity  of  our  hearts,  we  erected  this  building  more  than 
a  mile  away  from  the  grounds,  so  there  would  be  no  complaint  of  that 
kind.  But  we  regret  this  confusion  of  terms  more  than  you  do.  It  is 
this  year  called  the  "Exposition  Memorial  Auditorium,"  because  it  is 
under  the  control  of  the  Exposition.  The  City  of  San  Francisco  in  its 
budget  provided  something  more  than  seven  hundred  thousand  dollars 
for  the  purchase  of  the  land  upon  which  the  building  stands.  With  the 
furnishings  of  the  building,  the  whole  investment  has  been  a  little  over 
two  million  dollars.  This  Auditorium  will  be  handed  over  to  the  City 
of  San  Francisco  at  the  close  of  the  Exposition  as  a  permanent  memo- 
rial. Other  parts  of  the  Exposition  are  now  under  contemplation  for 
preservation  as  well,  but  this  is  the  one  thing  which  is  already  provided: 
this  is  the  sure  memorial  of  the  Exposition. 

My  other  point  has  reference  to  the  remark  which  your  Secretary 
has  just  made;  that  the  program  is  in  your  hands.  May  I  suggest  that 
one  great  part  of  our  Convention  preparations  has  been  the  grouping  of 
various  interests  so  that  related  Conventions  should  meet  at  approximate- 
ly the  same  time.  You  know  that  last  week  the  various  engineering  con- 
ventions were  in  session.  This  morning,  opening  on  the  first  floor  of 
this  building  is  the  Engineering  Congress,  in  which  most  of  those  en- 
gineering societies  are  .participating,  which  means  that  in  the  week  or 
two  weeks  an  individual  with  a  special  interest  along  some  engineering 
line  can  come  here  to  San  Francisco  and  get  that  major  interest  satisfied 
in  the  Convention  dealing  with  the  line  for  which  he  cares  the  most,  or 
with  which  he  is  the  best  acquainted,  and  during  the  same  week  or  ten 
days,  Mr.  President  and  Mr.  Secretary,  he  can  see  something  of  the 
Exposition,  and,  of  course,  we  have  had  the  hearty  co-operation  of  all 
these  Convention  bodies  in  so  arranging  their  programs.  It  is  "mining 
week"  which  has  brought  you  here.  The  subject  of  mines  is  the  keynote 
of  the  whole  week.  We  just  closed  a  wonderfully  interesting  "dental 
period"  of  two  weeks;  the  "medical  period"  occurred  in  June,  and  the 
"educational  period"  the  first  two  weeks  in  August.  Our  general  plan 
has  worked  out  far  beyond  our  expectations,  and  as  has  been  indicated, 
this  is  simply  one  of  the  means  we  have  used  for  being  of  service  to  the 
people  who  come  to  our  Exnosition  City.  We  have  tried  to  arrange  it 
so  that  we  could  bring  together  in  a  given  period  all  conferences  or 
Conventions  in  which  certain  groups  of  people  or  artisans  or  professional 
men  are  interested,  and  for  which  they  care  the  most,  thus  saving  the 
two  or  three  trips  that  would  otherwise  be  necessary.  However,  if  this 
is  just  a  suburb  of  Salt  Lake,  as  was  suggested  by  one  of  the  speakers, 
it  would  be  very  easy  to  drop  over  here  almost  any  time!  (Laughter.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  We  would  be  glad  to  hear  some  expres- 
sions from  you  as  to  future  sessions,  whether  you  desire  us  to  carry  out 
the  program  as  outlined,  or  whether  shorter  sessions,  and  more  time 
thus  available  for  visiting  the  Fair  would  be  preferable.  If  there  is  no 
one  who  would  suggest  any  deviation  from  the  program  as  outlined,  we 


28  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

accept  it  for  granted  that  it  meets  with  your  approval,  and  as  we  have 
saved  fifty  cents  through  not  being  compelled  to  go  to  the  Exposition 
grounds,  as  suggested  by  Mr.  Bassett,  I  would  suggest  that  we  adjourn 
now  for  luncheon  and  assemble  at  2  o'clock  to  hear  the  speakers  who 
are  going  to  honor  us  this  afternoon. 

One  moment,  gentlemen;  there  are  two  speakers  on  the  program 
whom  I  am  sure  everyone  present  will  want  to  hear,  Mr.  Manning  and 
Mr.  Smith,  and  I  am  going  to  ask  you  again  to  be  kind  enough  to  be 
here  promptly  at  2  o'clock. 

The  tickets  to  the  banquet  can  be  had  at  the  Secretary's  office  at 
the  Palace  Hotel. 

Whereupon   the   morning    session   was  adjourned   at    11:25    o'clock. 

MONDAY,  SEPTEMBER  20,  1915. 
Afternoon  Session. 

The  afternoon  session  convened  at  2:20  o'clock,  with  President 
Scholz  in  the  chair. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Has  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  any 
report  to  offer  this  afternoon? 

JUDGE  RICHARDS,  Chairman  of  the  Committee:  No  report.  As 
yet  no  resolutions  have  been  referred  to  the  committee. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     Are  there  any  resolutions  to  be  offered? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  suggest  to 
the  gentlemen  present  that  the  Mining  Congress  wants  to  be  serviceable 
in  getting  things  accomplished  for  the  mining  districts?  The  fact  that 
last,  year  we  went  on  record  in  favor  of  a  certain  proposition  does  not 
mean  that  it  is  not  wise  to  introduce  that  same  resolution  again,  because 
the  publicity  which  will  come  from  the  publication  of  a  resolution  is  of 
advantage.  It  is  very  important  that  those  of  you  who  have  matters 
which  still  need  action,  shall  have  them  considered  by  this  Congress 
through  resolutions  which  may  go  to  the  Resolutions  Committee  for  its 
action. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions: 
The  Committee  on  Resolutions  is  organized  and  ready  to  engage  in  its 
work  as  fast  as  resolutions  are  referred  to  it. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  The  American  Mining  Congress  was 
greatly  interested  in  the  establishment  of  a  Bureau  of  Mines,  and  we 
are  very  fortunate  to  have  with  us  today  Mr.  Van  Manning,  the  second 
Director  of  the  Bureau.  In  speaking  of  him  as  the  second  Director,  I 
think  I  may  say  that  he  has  been  one  of  the  first  Directors,  because 
he  was  Dr.  Holmes'  right-hand  man;  was  with  him  from  the  very  be- 
ginning of  his  work,  and  knows  more  about  the  plans  that  were  laid  by 
Dr.  Holmes  than  anyone  else.  Mr.  Manning  has  prepared  a  paper  on 
"What  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines  Is  Doing  and  Hopes  to  Do 
for  the  Metalliferous  Mining  Industry,"  and  I  am  going  to  call  on  him 
to  address  the  meeting  now.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Manning's  address  wTill  be  found  at  page  103  of  this  report. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  In  behalf  of  our  members,  I  want  to 
thank  Mr.  Van  Manning  for  the  very  illuminating  address  just  delivered. 
As  a  coal  miner,  I  am  somewhat  surprised  at  a  great  deal  of  work  that 
the  Bureau  has  been  doing  for  the  mining  industry,  because  I  felt  that 
we  had  monopolized  all  their  efforts.  Therefore,  it  is  more  or  less  of  a 
surprise  to  me  that  so  much  has  been  done  for  the  metal  industry;  but 
I  am  sure  it  will  be  received  with  a  great  deal  of  gratification  by  you 
Western  people. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  for  me  to  introduce  the  next  speaker,  be- 
cause he  is  better  known  to  you  than  any  other  man  in  this  room,  I 
presume,  and  I  will  call  on  Dr.  George  Otis  Smith,  Director  of  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey,  without  any  further  introduction,  to  deliver 
his  address.  (Applause.)  -' 

DR.  SMITH:  Mr.  President,  ladies  and  gentlemen:  You  may  re- 
call, Mr.  President,  that  two  years  ago  I  addressed  the  American  Mining 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  29 

Congress  at  their  meeting  in  Philadelphia  on  the  subject,  fPlain  Talk." 
At  that  time  I  tried  to  preach  the  use  of  direct  statements,  and  also 
practice  what  I  was  preaching. 

Of  late  my  thoughts  have  turned  more  and  more  to  the  need  of 
popular  language  in  stating  technical  results.  Hence  this  afternoon  I 
venture  to  discuss  ''Plain  Writing"  from  the  standpoint  of  a  Government 
scientist. 

Dr.  Smith's  address  will  be  found  at  page  114  of  this  report. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  I  think  the  Congress  is  to  be  congratu- 
lated upon  having  heard  two  of  the  men  to-day  who  know  more  about 
the  plans  of  the  Government  toward  the  mining  industry  than  any  other 
men  in  the  country,  and  I  want  to  take  this  occasion  to  say  to  both  of 
those  gentlemen  that  the  Mining  Congress  as  a  whole  heartily  endorses 
the  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  and  the  Geological  Survey,  and  stands 
ready  to  give  them  any  further  assistance  that  they  may  need,  both  in 
the  State  Legislatures  and  in  our  national  legislative  halls. 

There  is  one  more  man  in  this  room  who  knows  a  good  deal  about 
the  relations  of  the  Government  towards  the  mining  industry,  particu- 
larly on  account  of  his  long  friendship  and  personal  acquaintance  with 
Dr.  Holmes.  I  refer  to  Dr.  W.  B.  Phillips,  the  former  Director  of  the 
Geological  Survey  of  the  State  of  Texas,  and  now  the  President  of  the 
Colorado  School^  of  Mines.  If  Dr.  Phillips  will  please  come  forward  to 
the  platform,  we  will  be  glad  to  hear  from  him. 

DR.  PHILLIPS:  Mr.  President  and  Fellow  Members:  I  very  much 
enjoyed  the  paper  of  Mr.  Manning  and  that  of  Dr.  Smith,  and  I  can  add  a 
little  from  my  own  personal  experience  to  what  Dr.  Smith  has  said  in  re- 
gard to  the  use  of  exact  language.  The  trouble  is  that  in  this  country  we 
are  putting  the  training  of  young  people  in  the  use  of  the  English  language 
some  five  or  six  or  ten  years  after  they  have  left  the  primary  schools. 
We  find  in  the  School  of  Mines  in  Colorado,  and  I  suppose  it  is  the 
same  with  other  mining  schools,  that  our  seniors  are  unable  to  write  the 
English  language!  (Laughter.)  They  are  unable  to  speak  it  also.  The 
American  family  has  long  since  been  destroyed;  there  is  no  such  thing, 
nowadays  as  an  American  family;  there  are  a  lot  of  parents  under  in- 
struction by  the  children,  but  the  family  is  gone!  (Laughter  and  ap- 
plause.) To  see  the  old-fashioned  family,  we  have  to  go  among  our 
Jewish  brothers.  The  Americans  have  long  since  outgrown  that,  and 
when  the  children  go  to  the  high  school  they  do  not  know  how  to 
speak  properly,  and  when  they  leave  the  high  school  they  do  not  know 
how  to  speak  properly  or  to  write  properly,  and  when  they  leave  the 
mining  schools  they  do.,  not  know  anything  at  all  about  the  use  of 
English!  (Laughter.)  I  am  sorry  to  make  this  confession  here,  but 
I  know  what  I  am  talking  about.  And,  speaking  of  technical  writing,  it 
is  not  so  much  the  choice  of  nomenclature,  but  whether  the  English  that 
is  used  in  writing  a  report  shall  be  understandable  by  the  people  at  large. 
We  all  understand  it  is  necessary  to  use  technical  terms.  We  cannot 
have  a  science  without  them,  but  they  form  a  very  small  part  of  any 
technical  report,  perhaps  not  as  much  as  5  per  cent.  It  is  the  choice 
and  arrangement  of  the  English  language  that  constitutes  a  technical 
report,  whether  that  be  in  ten  or  fifteen  pages  of  manuscript,  or  a 
thousand  pages  of  printed  stuff.  And  I  wish  to  make  an  appeal  to  you 
to-day,  such  of  you  as  represent  the  long-lost  American  family,  now  as 
scarce  as  the  dodo,  to  see  whether  we  cannot  institute  some  change  in 
American  life  to-day  by  which  the  children  who  go  to  the  common 
schools  shall  understand  and  practice  ordinary  plain  English.  (Applause.) 

We  are  producing  an  excellent  course  of  English  in  the  Colorado 
School  of  Mines.  WTe  had  a  fight  this  year  to  introduce  English  in  the 
sophomore  class,  and  I  had  to  cut  a  pretty  good  hickory  stick  to  con- 
vince those  people  that  we  might  at  least  require  it  in  the  sophomore 
class.  Heretofore  we  have  been  having  such  a  course  in  the  freshman 
class;  now  we  have  it  in  the  sophomore  class;  next  year  we  will  intro- 
duce it  into  the  junior  class,  and  finally,  by  perseverance,  we  will  have 


30  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

English  perused   clear   through   to  and  including  the   senior   class.     We 
are  going  to  have  four  years  of  it.     (Laughter  arid  applause.) 

I  do  not  think  any  of  us  appreciate  exactly  what  the  relation  of 
the  use  of  correct  English  bears  to  employment.  I  have  had  occasion 
recently  to  look  into  that  matter,  and  some  of  the  best  engineers  in  our 
part  of  the  country  have  told  me  that  they  had  received  letters  from 
graduates  of  mining  schools — Colorado  included — asking  for  employ- 
ment, and  the  letters  were  couched  in  such  awful  English  that  he  threw 
them  into  the  waste-basket  and  never  has  answered  them.  Now,  that's 
a  fact,  and  I  can  give  names  and  dates  if  necessary.  It  transpired  in 
the  city  of  Denver  not  more  than  three  months  ago,  and  these  letters 
were  from  graduates  of  technical  schools,  and  they  did  not  come  from 
the  western  schools,  all  of  them;  some  were  from  Yale,  and  some  from 
Harvard.  That  new  consolidation  of  Boston  Tech  with  Harvard  has 
not  improved  the  use  of  English  in  Massachusetts.  (Laughter.)  I  say 
that's  a  burning  shame,  that  the  ycung  men  we  are  sending  out  from  the 
technical  schools  cannot  even  use  their  own  mother  tongue  intelligently, 
when  it  comes  to  writing  it  down  and  submitting  a  page  of  decent 
English. 

And  the  same  is  true  of  mathematics.  I  have  seen  some  technical 
graduates  within  the  last  six  months.  They  had  the  degree  of  Engineer 
of  Mines,  and  I  hope  that  the  Almighty  will  pardon  the  school  that 
confers  a  degree  of  Engineer  of  Mines  in  four  years  on  those  who  could 
not  understand  the  rule  of  three,  and  could  not  figure  out  the  simplest 
little  metrical  relations  in  ordinary  general  chemistry.  And  yet  those 
fellows  had  the  degree  of  Engineer  of  Mines! 

I  think  we  arc  coming  to  the  time  when  this  whole  business  of 
technical  education  will  have  to  be  turned  upside  down,  and  the  most 
of  it  spanked!  (Laughter.)  We  are  trying  to  teach  too  much  in  four 
years.  I  think  that  one  of  the  greatest  things  that  the  American  Mining 
Congress  could  do  today  would  be  to  insist  upon  a  standardization  of 
technical  education  in  mining  schools.  It's  a  thing  that  we  have  neg- 
lected too  long.  We  speak  of  the  conservation  of  our  natural  resources 
— including  natural  gas!  I  hope  that  will  be  a  long  time  in  coming, 
because  it  will  deprive  me  of  a  living!  (Laughter.)  But  we  do  not  hear 
anything  about  the.  conservation  of  brains  and  efforts,  and  it  is  along 
those  lines  that  we  are  all,  I  think,  the  greatest  sinners. 

We  have  a"half-dozen  or  more  mining  schools  over  in  the  western 
part  of  the  United  States.  There  is  room  for  about  one,  but  we  have  six 
of  them,  and  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  we  can  abolish  the  other  five! 
(Laughter  and  applause.) 

I  would  like  very  much  to  see  a  set  of  resolutions  presented  to  this 
Congress  calling  upon  the  officials  of  these  schools  of  mines  in  the 
western  part  of  the  United  States  to  get  together  in  the  standardization 
of  mining  and  metallurgical  courses.  We  are  duplicating  each  other's 
work  and  infringing  upon  each  other's  preserves,  until  the  outrage  cries 
to  high  heaven,  and  I  hope  that  some  of  our  good  friends  will  submit 
to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  something  to  this  effect,  so  that  the 
stigma  placed  upon  technical  writing  may  forever  be  removed.  We  may 
continue  to  profit  each  year  as  we  go  along  by  the  wisdom  embodied  in 
Dr,  Smith's  paper. 

There  is  another  matter,  if,  you  will  excuse  me,  concerning  which 
I  will  ask  you  to  hear  me.  Dr.  Holmes'  great  work  iri  this  world  was 
for  humanity.  I  suppose  I  am  his  oldest  friend  here.  1  have  known 
him  well  for  nearly  thirty-five  years.  He  came  first  as  a  graduate 
of  Cornell  University  to  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  as  professor 
of  geology  and  mineralogy.  During  all  these  years  our  association  has 
been  particularly  close  and  intimate.  I  have  followed  his  career^  with 
increasing  admiration  and  affection,  and  each  year  he  grew  into  the 
final  flower  of  his  achievements.  The  thing  that  lay  always  nearest  his 
heart  was  the  betterment  of  conditions  under  which  mining  and  metal- 
lurgical affairs  are-  administered  in  this  country.  I  do  not  think  that 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  31 

he  neglected  at  any  time,  day  or  night,  the  consideration  of  this  matter, 
because  it  lay  upon  his  heart,  and  his  heart  was  as  great  as  all  outdoors. 
There  was  no  boundary  to  be  set  upon  the  heart  of  Dr.  Holmes;  it  was 
as  big  as  all  outdoors.  In  Colorado  we  have  been  attempting  to  set  in 
motion  a  great  memorial  to  the  memory  of  Dr.  Holmes,  one  that  shall 
not  be  of  stone,  or  brass,  or  polished  marble,  but  we  have  erected  there, 
in  connection  with  the  Colorado  State  School  of  Mines,  a  Joseph  Austin 
Holmes  professorship  of  safety  and  efficiency  engineering.  That  action 
was  taken  by  the  board  of  trustees  on  the  twelfth  day  of  August,  and  in 
October  we  are  ready  to  elect  this  professor.  Unfortunately,  I  did  not 
speak  with  Dr.  Holmes  before  his  death  about  this  matter,  as  I  con- 
sidered it  one  of  some  delicacy,  but  immediately  upon  his  death  that 
chair  was  established,  and  we  propose  to  see  that  it  is  equipped,  fur- 
nished and  operated  in  accordance  with  the  plans  which  lay  nearest5  his 
heart.  Bear  with  me  if  I  seem  to  speak  somewhat  personally.  I  think 
no  such  chair  as  that  exists  in  connection  with  any  technical  mining 
school  in  the  United  States.  We,  therefore — and  we  say  it  with  some 
pardonable  pride — we  are  the  first  to  enter  the  field,  and  I  do  not  think 
if  we  had  considered  this  matter  for  years  that  we  could  have  hit  upon 
a  happier  solution  of  the  matter  of  a  memorial  to  this  great  and  good 
man  than  a  professorship  which  shall  devote  itself  to  the  training  of 
men  in  safety  and  efficiency  engineering.  (Applause.)  It  lies  therefore 
upon  our  hearts,  and  I  commend  it  to  your  kind  consideration.  We 
have  sufficient  means  to  carry  that  chair  along,  and  to  equip  it,  but  we 
shall  need  additional  endowment,  and  I  am  going  to  call  upon  every 
personal  friend  of  Dr.  Holmes  within  the  hearing  of  my  voice,  and  also 
through  the  press  and  through  circulars,  to  aid  us  in  carrying  this  great 
work  forward  in  plans  that  would  have  met  with  his  own  approval. 

My  friends,  in  referring  back  to  Dr.  Holmes,  I  do  not  think  I  could 
conclude  these  few  desultory  remarks  better  than  by  referring  to  the 
words  used  by  old  King  David,  when  the  death  of  Jonathan  was  re- 
ported to  him — his  lifelong  friend,  his  companion  in  arms,  his  steadfast 
supporter,  his  wise  counselor.  "My  friends,"  he  said,  "know  ye  not 
that  this  day  a  prince  hath  fallen  in  Israel?"  I  thank  you.  (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  I  am  sure  we  have  enjoyed  the  very 
beautiful  address  delivered  by  Dr.  Phillips,  but  I  want  to  call  your 
special  attention  to  the  close  adherence  to  the  subject  of  his  address, 
which  is  "The  Federal  Government  and  the  Metalliferous  Mining  Indus- 
try." Dr.  Phillips  has  not  mentioned  one  word  about  it  in  all  his  half- 
hour's  talk!  Therefore,  I'm  going  to  call  on  the  meeting  at  large  to 
talk  on  the  subject  so  that  we  may  know  what  we  have  come  here  for. 
The  meeting — 

DR.  PHILLIPS  (interrupting):  Mr.  President,  if  you  call  upon 
me  to  give  an  excuse,  I  might  say  that  1  don't  know  a  single  thing  about 
that  subject!  (Laughter.) 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  President,  you  gentlemen 
represent  the  mining  industry.  You  know  what  you  want  these  officers 
at  Washington  to  do  for  you.  Dr.  Smith  has  told  you  what  he  is  doing; 
Mr.  Manning  has  explained  what  he  is  undertaking  and  proposes  to  do. 
Now,  those  gentlemen  want  to  know  what  you  want  them  to  do.  This 
is^the  proper  place  to  discuss  it.  Having  decided  what  you  want  them 
to  do,  the  next  thing  is  to  devise  the  means  by  which  they  shall  be  able 
to  accomplish  the  things  you  want  them  to  do.  This  is  a  very  practical 
question,  and  I  hope  the  gentlemen  present  may  take  it  up  and  discuss 
it,  and  that  we  may  arrive  at  conclusions  as  to  what  may  be  done.  You 
know  the  Bureau  of  Mines  and  the  Geological  Survey  cannot  print 
documents  nor  send  out  a  single  bulletin  or  card  unless  "there  is  an 
appropriation  made  by  Congress  to  pay  the  expense.  We  are  the 
organization  through  which  that  propaganda  must  be  carried  out.  Unless 
we  take  the  initiative,  many  things  will  be  left  undone  that  should  be 
undertaken  at  once.  For  instance,  let  me  point  out  that  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  prints  an  annual  year  book.  It  is  of  great  value  to 


32  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

the  farmers  of  this  country.  The  department  prints,  as  we  understand, 
four  hundred  thousand  copies  each  year,  which  it  distributes  free,  to 
the  farmers  of  the  United  States.  The  farming  industry  of  this  country 
is  so  organized,  and  Congress  so  recognizes  it,  that  there  is  no  trouble 
to  get  the  appropriation  by  which  that  printing  shall  be  done,  and  the 
books  sent  to  the  farmer.  A  great  publication  recently  issued  in  the 
interests  of  the  mining  industry  is  a  book  just  completed  by  the  Bureau 
of  Mines — a  Codification  of  the  Mining  Laws  of  the  United  States.  It 
is  a  very  valuable  publication  of  two  volumes,  and  is  the  most  complete 
of  its  kind  along  any  line  that  has  ever  been  compiled.  We  asked  the 
Department  of  the  Interior  to  provide  an  appropriation  by  which  that 
might  in  a  limited  way  be  distributed  free  to  the  miners  of  the  United 
States.  It  cost  thirty-five  hundred  dollars  to  get  the  first  few  volumes. 
We  asked  fifteen  hundred  dollars  additional  to  publish  a  sufficient  num- 
ber for  reasonable  distribution.  If  the  Government  is  going  to  distribute 
year  books  to  the  farmers  for  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  why 
should  not  the  mining  industry  also  have  similar  recognition?  (Ap- 
plause.) We  plotted  and  we  schemed  and  begged  for  that  extra  fifteen 
hundred  dollars  by  which  these  copies  might  be  distributed,  and  we 
failed  to  get  it.  There  was  no  appropriation  available  through  which 
our  request  could  be  met.  Is  it  not  time  we  created  the  means  by  which 
we  may  demand  of  Congress  that  in  a  matter  of  such  importance  there 
shall  be  an  ample  distribution  of  so  valuable  a  work  to  the  mining  men 
qf  this  country?  It  is  of  great  advantage  to  us  that  we  shall  be  able 
to  buy  that  book  at  a  nominal  cost,  a  book  which  would  cost  from 
fifteen  to  twenty-five  dollars  if  published  by  the  leading  law  publishing 
firms  of  this  country.  It  is  of  great  advantage  that  we  shall  be  able  to 
purchase  such  a  book  for  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents,  and  it  is  likewise 
a  great  advantage  to  us  to  have  it  available  in  any  way.  But  when  the 
agricultural  industry  may  have  four  hundred  thousand  copies  of  its 
book  published  each  year,  it  does  seem  that  we. might  have  thirty-five 
hundred  copies  of  our  book  published  and  available  for  distribution.  It 
is  up  to  you  gentlemen  to  organize  and  devise  the  plans  by  which  we 
may  have  better  representation  in  Washington,  and  be  better  able  to 
demand  of  Congress  that  the  needs  of  the  mining  industry  shall  be 
recognized.  I  hope  you  will  take  part  in  this  discussion  and  tell  us 
how  it  ought  to  be  done. 

STEPHEN  M.  SMITH,  Boise,  Idaho:  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and 
Gentlemen:  There  has  not  been  anything  said  in  regard  to  monazite 
and  zircon,  two  of  our  very  important  metals  in  the  uses  of  gas  and 
electricity.  I  wish  to  say  that  we  have,  in  the  United  States,  an  abun- 
dance of  these  metals  in  one  particular  location  that  I  know  of,  and 
that  is  the  channel  of  Moore's  Creek,  Boise  County,  Idaho,  of  which 
demonstrations  and  tests  have  been  made. 

ft  appears  to  me  that  our  Government  should  assist  in  the  manu- 
facture of  these  products  and  protect  the  parties  who  might  embark 
in  the  manufacture  of  the  same,  for  after  the  war,  no  doubt,  Germany 
will  proceed  to  control  the  market  of  the  gas  mantles  and  all  other 
lines  of  industries  from  these  metals,  and  I  would  like  to  see  the  Gov- 
ernment take  the  matter  up.  As-  I  understand  it,  Germany  has  been 
producing  85  per  cent  of  the  monazite  of  the  world  and  Brazil  about 
15  per  cent,  and  as  you  all  know,  the  mantles  for  your  gas  lamps  came 
from  the  result  of  "Germany's  production,  and  having  these  minerals 
here,  it  would  seem  that  our  Government  ought  to  take  the  matter  up. 

I  have  just  been  reliably  informed  that  they  have  discovered  a 
process  of  putting  zircon  together  to  make  brick  for  furnace  lining 
purposes  that  has-been  tested^up  to  6,000  degrees  of  temperature,  with- 
out being  impaired  by  the  heat,  which  is  a  very  important  point  in  the 
electrical  furnace  work.  And,  gentlemen,  we  have  this  monazite  and 
zircon  in  great  quantities  in  IdaHo.  There  is  no  direct  market  for  it 
in  the  United  States,  and  I  would  like  to  see  the  matter  taken  up  so  as 
to  give  us  an  opportunity  to  market  the  same.  Thanking  you,  gentle- 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  33 

men,  for  listening  to  me  on  this,  I  would  ask  your  indulgence  to  listen 
to  a  few  more  words  on  another  matter. 

I  have  just  been  recently  granted  a  patent  upon  a  grapple  that 
is  a  grapple,  which  is  particularly  adapted  for  handling  boulders.  It 
will  handle  and  catch  all  sizes  of  boulders,  kind  and  character;  that  is, 
long,  round,  smooth  or  whatever  that  may  be,  so  that  the  man  at  the 
levers  can,  from  the  end  of  his  boom  or  his  derrick  or  cable,  drop 
over  boulders  of  any  shape,  size  or  nature,  pick  them  up,  run  them  back 
and  drop  them  wherever  he  pleases,  without  any  chain  or  sling  hereto- 
fore used.  I  am  now  manufacturing  the  same  and  have  demonstration 
models  to  be  seen,  and  if  anybody  wishes  to  see  same,  I  will  be  glad 
to  show  them  that  this  problem  of  boulders  which  has  so  long  been 
bucked  up  against  is  now  easy  and  the.  man  at  the  lever  can  easily 
get  them  out  of  the  way. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  This  discussion,  gentlemen,  is  of  so 
much  importance  that  I  am  quite  sure  we  will  have  at  least  half  a  dozen 
speeches  before  we  adjourn,  and  I  do  not  want  you  to  be  backward; 
come  right  out  and  tell  us  what  you  want.  Your  officers  try  to  do  their 
duty,  but  they  are  not  mind  readers;  they  have  not  reached  that  stage; 
and  unless  you  tell  us  how  to  help  you,  and  what  you  want  the  Gov- 
ernment to  do,  we  cannot  help  you.  So  get  up,  and  discuss  anything 
of  importance  to  you,  as  suggested  by  Dr.  Smith,  and  tell  us  the  whole 
story. 

MR.  HERBERT  M.  WILSON:  Mr.  President,  we  all  hope  that 
the  Bureau  of  Mines  may  ere  long  be  in  a  position  to  add  materially  to 
the  very  splendid  work  it  has  already  done  along  one  line  of  endeavor — 
that  of  statistics  regarding  the  causes  of  accidents  in  mines.  I  speak 
with  much  feeling  on  this  matter,  because  it  has  been  my  duty  in  the 
last  few  months  to  try  and  determine  a  basis  for  appraising  the  relative 
value  and  importance  of  the  causes  of  accidents  in  mines.  A  condition 
has  recently  been  brought  about  by  workman's  compensation  legislation 
which  causes  the  mine  owner  to  pay  good  money  for  every  accident 
which  may  occur  in  his  mine,  and  makes  him  want  to  know  something 
about  how  he  can  prevent  accidents.  And  valuable  as  is  the  statistical 
work  already  done,  being  the  only  source  of  information  on  such 
subjects,  yet  there  is  so  much  more  to  be  done  to  make  it  of  real,  imme- 
diate and  intrinsic  value  to  those  who  have  the  subject  of  the  settle- 
ments under  workman's  compensation  to  consider.  I  do  hope  this 
Congress  may  find  it  possible  to  express  in  formal  resolution  to  the 
Government  a  desire  that  even  more  intensive  work  may  be  done  towards 
determining  not  only  the  means  of  prevention  of  accidents,  concerning 
which  the  Bureau  has  done  so  much,  but  concerning  their  causes.  I 
thank  you.  (Applause.) 

MR.  E.  L.  BARTHOLOMEW:  Mr.  President  and  members  of  this 
Mining  Congress.  I  would  just  like  to  bring  out  a  thought  here  from  a 
practical  miner.'  It  has  come  to  me  since  visiting  this  Exposition  through 
the  wonderful  exhibits  that  have  been  given  to  the  people  by  the  different 
States.  The  United  States  Government  has  a  wonderful  exhibit  along 
mining  lines,  the  finest  I  have  ever  seen  in  all  my  experience,  and  I  would 
like  to  see  some  of  it  kept  up,  and  my  thought  is,  along  these  lines,  they 
have  there  a  demonstration  of  assaying,  and  the  working  of  different 
ores.  Now,  in  our  universities  they  grve — the  University  of  California 
gives  four  years  of  technical  training  to  a  technical  student,  and  I  have 
in  mind  for  them  to  give  something  to  the  practical  miner,  not  a  four 
years'  course,  but  something  of  maybe  two  months,  or  three  months 
of  practical  assaying,  fitting  the  practical  man,  when  he  goes  out  in  the 
field,  to  determine  the  values  of  the  different  minerals  he  would  come 
in  contact  with.  Now,  in  the  University  of  Nevada  they  give  a  summer 
course  there  to  the  prospector,  and  I  think  that  the  Government  ought 
to  take  in  hand  to  educate  the  practical  man  so  as  to  fit  him  to  deter- 
mine the  value  of  what  he  finds.  It  has  been  my  experience — I  have 
prospected  more  or  less  in  this  western  country — that  you  often  come 


34  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

in  contact  with  some  mineral  or  some  rock,  and  you  are  puzzled  as  to 
what  it  is,  or  what  it  contains;  and  the  view  that  I  had  was  to  have  a 
permanent  course  for  the  practical  man,  where  he  could  get  some  of 
the  henefits  that  arc  given  the  students  in  our  mining  colleges,  so  that 
he  wouldn't  have  to  go  through  an  examination  to  take  a  course,  or 
anything  like  that;  hut  my  idea  is  to  try  and  reach  him  through  a  short 
course  of  some  practical  teaching,  such  as  they  are  demonstrating  out 
on  the  Fair  grounds.  (Applause.) 

PROF.  F.  W.  SPERR,  Houghton,  Michigan:  Mr.  Chairman,  in 
reply  to  Mr.  Bartholomew's  suggestion,  I  would  say  that  I  am  in  hearty 
sympathy  and  accord  with  every  effort -to  help  the  practical  miner  to  the 
best  possible  understanding  of  the  materials  and  operations  with  which 
he  is  in  daily  contact.  I  wish  I  could  tell  you  in  a  few  words  what 
I  know  the  practical  miner  can  accomplish  with  a  little  educational 
advantage — the  miner  who  may  have  gone  to  work  as  a  trapper  boy  in 
the  mines  of  the  old  country  when  he  was  seven  years  old,  or  as  a 
powder  boy  in  the  mines  of  our  own  country  when  he  was  ten  or 
twelve.  He  is  the  man  upon  whom  have  devolved  the  responsibilities 
of  our  underground  operations,  both  engineering  and  managerial;  but 
he  is  rapidly  giving  way  hefore  the  modern  demands  for  calculations 
for  which  he  is  not  prepared.  But  with  the  educational  training  that 
should  be  given  him,  and  that  he  is  capable  of  taking  on,  he  will  con- 
tinue to  make  the  best  possible  underground  superintendent  for  the 
future  as  he  has  done  in  the  past.  My  own  experience  with  the  education 
of  such  men  began  twenty-seven  years  ago,  when  I  was  called  from 
the  field  of  practical  mining  in  the  West  to  take  charge  of  the  mining- 
end  of  a  two  years'  course  that  had  just  been  inaugurated  at  the  Ohio 
State  University.  I  would  only  weary  you  by  telling  the  trials  and 
troubles  and  misgivings  of  those  first  brave  fellows  who  came  in  to  try 
the  experiment,  and  to  rehearse  to  you  their  later  successes;  but  they 
came  as  pit  bosses,  coal  diggers  and  mule  drivers,  and  they  went  back 
as  mine  surveyors  and  mine  superintendents;  and  I  am  told  they  are 
doing  it  yet.  They  made  better  citizens,  better  men  for  their  companies; 
and,  above  all,  better  men  for  themselves.  Since  that  time  "short 
courses''  for  practical  men — farmers,  miners  and  mechanics — have  been 
inaugurated  not  only  in  many  educational  institutions,  but  also  in  various 
industrial  establishments.  The  Cleveland-Cliffs  Iron  Company  of  the 
Lake  Superior  district  has  for  a  number  of  years  conducted  a  school  for 
its  employees  in  all  operating  departments.  Only  this  last  year  the 
Michigan  College  of  Mines  inaugurated  special  short  courses  for  practical 
mining  men;  and  we  read  from  a  circular  recently  issued  by  the  college 
what  is  proposed  to  be  done  and  what  has  already  been  accomplished. 
The  results  are  encouraging;  and  I  would  suggest  that  a  Committee  en 
Mining  Education,  with  special  reference  to  the  men  who  have  been 
deprived  of  the  privileges  of  early  education,  be  appointed  by  this 
Congress. 

MR.  GEORGE  H.  UTTER:  Mr.  President,  I  would  simply  sug- 
gest that  the  President  appoint  a  committee  including  the  two  gentle- 
men who  have  last  spoken,  to  prepare  a  resolution  in  proper  form  to  go 
before  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  covering  that  subject.  Then  we 
will  get  the  subject  in  practical  form,  which  may  result  in  its  being 
taken  up  by  our  mining  schools  in  the  several  States  and  colleges  through 
the  East  and  result  in  general  practical  work  for  the  man  who  needs 
it  most,  and  where  it  would  benefit  the  several  communities  most. 

MR.  BARTHOLOMEW:  I  wanted  to  bring  out  why  I  had  this 
thought.  I  had  occasion  to  want  some  practical  training  along  a  cer- 
tain line,  and  I  went  out  to  the  University  of  California  to  get  it.  Now, 
they  have  there  an  institution  donated  by  Mr.  Hearst,  that  covers  an 
appropriation  of  over  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  I  went  to  one 
of  the  professors  out  there  and  I  wanted  to  do  some  certain  work. 
"Now,"  he  says,  "the  only  way  you  could  get  that  is  to  .come  in  and 
take  a  course  with  the  students."  Now,  they  have  got  a  wonderful  insti- 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS^  35 

tution  out  there  for  the  benefit  of  mining.  They  have  got,  I  presume, 
one  of  the  finest  laboratories  for  practical  work  that  there  is  in  th'e 
United  States,  and  it's  lying  idle,  and  the  enrollment  this  year  has  fallen 
off  to  almost  nothing,  ss  far  as  the  mining  end  of  it  is  concerned.  The 
reason  I  bring  this  out  is  this:  Why  should  these  facilities  lie  idle,  when 
so  many  practical  men,  so  many  prospectors,  are  eager  to  take  advantage 
of  such  a  school?  That's  why  I  am  bringing  it  out,  and  I  think  some- 
thing should  be  done. 

Now,  I  brought  out  that  the  Michigan  School  of  Mines  last  year 
had  a  summer  course  for  the  prospector,  which  has  done  a  world  of 
good  to  the  practical  miner.  Now,  out  at  the  fair  here,  I  had  to  go  there 
to  get  what  I  could  not  get  at  the  university,  because  there  the  Govern- 
ment, through  its  generosity,  is  educating  the  people  up  to  what  we  are 
doing  along  mining  lines.  That  put  the  thought  in  my  mind  that  some- 
thing permanent  should  be  done.  Now  you  take  it  on  the  fair  grounds 
— a  practical  miner  can  go  there,  and  he  can  get  more  in  five  or  six  days 
than  he  can  get  out  of  all  the  books  that  are  printed  in  the  United 
States  on  those  subjects,  because  you  get  it  m  action.  You  can  go  and 
speak  with  intelligent  technical  men  and  ask  why  is  this  or  that  so,  and 
I  should  think  that  something  like  that  could  be  done  for  the  prospector 
and  for  the  practical  man,  ro  that  he  would  be  able  to  cope  with  these 
things.  It  has  been  my  privilege  as  a  practical  miner  to  co-operate  with 
the  technical  men.  In  my  experience  I  have  met  many  graduates  from 
the  different  mining  colleges  of  the  United  States,  and  it  has  been 
a  pleasure  for  me  to  get  technical  training  from  them.  The  two  must  go 
together,  but  the  poor  prospector  or  the  practical  man  does  want  so 
much  to  get  things  that  he  cannot  get  otherwise.  You  can  read  a  book, 
and  read,  and  read,  and  read,  and  stiH  it  does  not  suffice.  You  must 
see  this  in  action.  That's  why  I  am  drilling  this  out  so  forcibly. 

DR.  DAVID  T.  DAY,  Washington.  D.  C:  Mr.  President,  it  is  a 
very  gratifying  thing  to  see  how  the  exhibit  that  Dr.  Holmes  has  put 
together  out  at  the  Exposition  is  appealing  to  the  practical  miners,  and 
I  wish  he  were  present  to  hear  how  that  is  really  taking  hold;  and  it's 
a  gratifying  thing  to  all  those  who  have  had  to  do  with  getting  that 
exhibit  together  to  learn  how  it  has  really  helped. 

But,  Mr.  President,  I  find  on  the  program  here  that  the  Congress 
has  been  kind  enough  to  set  apart  for  the  present  hour  a  very  definite 
topic,  and  there  are  so  many  other  topics  which  are  evidently  of  live 
interest  here,  and  call  for  discussion,  that  it  seems  to  me  the  quicker  we 
can  get  action  on  this  particular  topic,  and  as  far  as  it  is  interesting  to 
discuss  it  and  get  it  out  of  the  way,  the  better,  and  I  am  just  going  to 
make  a  plea  of  about  two  minutes,  by  way  of  really  introducing  this 
subject  of  the  relations  of  the  Federal  Government  to  the  metalliferous 
mining  industry. 

I  would  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  there  are  three  ways  to 
consider  it,  which,  if  we  can  get  them  sharply  in  mind,  are  going  to  be 
of  a  great  deal  of  help  in  effecting  co-operation  between  the  metalliferous 
miners  and  the  Federal  Government.  There  are,  in  the  first  place,  two 
points  of  view  that  I  have  in  mind.  One  of  them  I  am  not  going  to  dis- 
cuss, because  I  would  throw  a  firebrand  in  the  place,  and  what  I  had 
to  say  would  be  absolutely  atheistic  to  every  mining  man  in  the  crowd. 
You  would  not  bear  with  me  for  a  minute.  The  other,  I  am  going  to 
talk  about.  The  first  is  the  attitude  ofr  the  Government  towards  public 
lands,  which  contain  metalliferous  deposits.  What  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment can  dp  towards  metalliferous  mining  on  public  lands  is  one  thing. 
It's  something  on  which  we  want  gradually  to  build  up  a  policy.  But 
I  had  rather  that  some  man  less  radical  than  myself  would  have  some- 
thing to  say  about  it.  The  other  is  the  relation  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment to  the  metalliferous  mining  on  privatelv  owned  land,  what  the 
Government  can  do,  and  what  not.  It  is  well  to  remember  tnat  the 
Federal  Government  should  be  called  on  to  carry  out  such  investigations 
as  are  obviously  impossible  for  the  individual  or  for  one  mining  engineer 


36  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

to  carry  out,,  or  for  the  officials  of  a  particular  State — problems  that  are 
absolutely  national  in  their  character,  and  therefore  must  be  carried  out 
by  the  National  Government.  Now,  Mr.  Wilson  gave  you  a  particularly 
good  instance  of  what  could  be  done  in  that  respect.  Am  I  exceeding 
my  time? 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:   You  have  all  the  time  you  want,  Dr.  Day. 

DR.  DAY  (continuing) :  I  will  only  talk  a  couple  of  minutes.  The 
gathering  of  statistics  of  a  particular  group  of  mines  amounts  to  almost 
nothing  of  educational  value.  The  statistics  of  one  State  are  imperfect 
for  the  best  purpose.  Another  thing,  it  requires  a  National  Government 
to  do  statistical  work  with  success,  principally  because  of  the  impartiality 
of  the  view  of  the  National  Government,  and  the  broad  ability  that  comes 
to  the  national  investigator  by  studying  varying  conditions  in  different 
parts  of  the  country.  Just  as  we  count  money  in  a  mint  and  nowhere 
else,  so  we  should  count  our  statistics  in  the  national  mint  of  statistics — 
in  the  United  States  Geological  Survey.  It  has  been  the  Division  of 
Mineral  Resources  that  has  given  the  great  foundation  of  stability  to  that 
wonderful  organization.  There  was  a  time  when  they  did  not  think  very 
much  of  that  line  of  work,  but  a  man  who  begins  an  article  in  the 
Geological  Survey  now  and  does  not  refer  to  the  mineral  resources  of 
the  United  States  is  not  in  it  at  all.  The  editor  would  call  him  down 
in  a  moment.  The  same  thing  is  going  to  be  true,  I  hope,  in  the  Bureau 
of  Mines,  that  the  specialists  will  have  for  their  basis  some  comprehen- 
sive idea  obtained  by  thoroughgoing  statistical  work,  showing  in  its 
character  what  actually  is  going  on  in  the  different  mining  industries, 
not  only  as  concerns  accidents,  but  taking  up  the  work  fundamentally  to 
determine  the  actual  figures  in  regard  to  the  metalliferous  industry. 
That's  one  thing  they  can  do. 

Now,  if  in  addition  to  that,  we  can  study  here  this  afternoon  what 
other  general  problems  are  vitally  desired  by  you  people,  which  can 
only  be  done  by  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  and  if  those  can  be  pointed  out, 
I  think  we  will  "have  spent  a  very  profitable  half-hour  or  hour;  and  I 
should  appeal  to  you  to  ''talk  out"  those  problems  which  are  general  in 
their  character;  first,  what  you  want  done.  Now,  for  instance,  in  the 
Bureau  of  Mines  and  in  the  Geological  Survey  there  is  one  very  useful 
purpose  performed.  You  send  in  to  the  Government  a  sample;  there 
was  a  time  years  ago  when  that  sample  was  received  with  a  moderate 
amount  of  scorn;  it  was  brought  in  and  kicked  aside  and  some  kind  of 
an  evasive  answer  was  sent  to  the  man  to  get  rid  of  him.  Now  the 
National  Government  wants  every  sample  of  that  kind  that  they  can 
get;  they  want  every  prospector  to  send  in  everything  of  that  sort  that 
he  can;  and  one  of  the  most  vital  sources  of  new  information  is  for  the 
prospector  to  send  in  that  little  bit  of  a  crumb  of  something  or  other  that 
he  does  not  understand — in  the  first  place,  when  he  does  not  know  what 
it  is,  and  in  the  second  place,  when  he  does  know  what  it  is,  but  does 
not  understand  why  it  is  where  it  is.  Now,  that's  a  vital  thing  to  some  of 
the  best  results  the  Geological  Survey  has  obtained  in  metalliferous 
mining  lately.  The  best  results,  I  repeat,  have  come  from  the  presenta- 
tion by  mining  engineers  of  problems  or  conditions  of  two  or  three  dif- 
ferent things  which  were  not  intelligible  to  him.  Now,  if  you  will  bring 
those  things  to  the  Bureau  of  Mines  or  Geological  Survey,  whichever  is 
appropriate,  it  will  be  of  great  assistance  to  our  industry.  And  we  want 
you  to  understand  what  the  duties  of  these  bureaus  are,  and  if  you  send 
to  the  wrong  one,  we  will  send  your  communication  to  the  proper  place. 
We  want  you  to  send  those  things  in,  and  thus  make  a  beginning.  It 
seems  you  do  not  need  the  National  Government  on  anything  that  anyone 
can  attend  to  by  himself,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  works  well  for  you 
to  send  in  those  specimens  and  let  us  have  your  inquiries.  That's  going 
to  help  this  broad  statistical  investigation.  Now  let's  hear  from  you  what 
you  want,  along  some  line  that  the  Government-  can  attend  to  better 
than  anybody  else  can.  A  man  who  examines  a  thousand  vari- 
ations of  a  similar  problem  can  handle  it  better  and  cheaper 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  37 

than  anybody  else.  We  do  not  propose  to  make  analyses;  that's  going 
too  far;  but  we  will  tell  you  how  and  where  to  get  them.  We  will  not 
interfere  with  the  professional  analyst  or  professional  mining  engineer. 
But  where  it  takes  ten  engineers  working  in  co-operation  to  do  a  piece 
of  work,  that's  where  the  Bureau  of  Mines  comes  in  and  does  the  work 
which  one  man  or  State  cannot  do. 

Now,  let's  get  at  these  things  through  you.  That's  what  we  are 
here  for,  to  attack  those  problems  which  are  to  be  taken  up  by  the 
National  Government  which  the  private  individual  cannot  do.  I  thank 
you  very  much.  (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  If  you  will  pardon  me,  I  will  make  one 
suggestion  which  occurs  to  me  as  being  very  vital,  and  that  is  the  ques- 
tion of  cost  accounting  in  the  coal  mining  industry.  A  fraction  of  a 
cent  frequently  determines  between  profit  and  loss,  and  having  operated 
a  number  of  mines  in  various  districts,  it  has  been  very  forcibly  called 
to  my  attention  that  certain  items  of  cost  in  one  district  were  lower 
than  in  another,  and  it  took  some  little  time  to  analyze  and  find  the 
reasons  why  such  was  the  case.  On  my  last  visit  to  Washington,  when 
Mr.  Parker  was  the  statistician  in  the  Geological  Survey,  I  suggested  to 
him  that  it  might  be  proper  for  the  Government  to  collect  such  figures 
and  disseminate  the  information  disguised,  so  to  speak,  in  a  manner  so 
no  one  would  take  offense  if  his  figures  should  be  higher  than  those 
of  his  neighbor's.  But  it  certainly  would  be  beneficial  to  know  whether 
my  figures  are  higher  than  those  of  my  neighbor,  and  why.  This  is 
something  no  individual  can  accomplish,  and  no  State  can  accomplish, 
and  which  will  only  be  of  benefit  if  we  get  information  embracing  the 
entire  industry.  1  realize  it  is  a  very  delicate  subject  and  one  which 
must  be  treated  very  carefully,  and  perhaps  on  that  account  has  been 
neglected,  but  I  am  sure,  in  this  age  of  economy  and  efficiency,  it  is 
one  of  the  things  that  we  cannot  afford  longer  to  neglect.  It  is  one  of 
the  many  things  that  can  be  done,  and  perhaps  one  of  the  more  impor- 
tant things.  I  am  sure  there  are  many  more  ideas  on  that  subject 
which  can  be  brought  out,  and  I  will  call  on  you  now  to  give  them  to 
us.  (Applause.) 

MR.  GEORGE  S.  RICE,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.:  Mr.  Chairman  and  Gen- 
tlemen: I  reply  on  the  one  point  spoken  about,  that  of  cost  keeping. 
The  Bureau  of  Mines  engineers  are  given  certain  data  sheets  for  col- 
lecting confidential  information  regarding  various  features  of  mining 
operations;  among  others  there  are  sheets  relating  to  costs  of  mining. 
While  the  bureau  has  met  with  response  on  the  part  of  mine  operators 
very  generally,  and  I  think  has  established  itself  as  a  bureau  to  be 
trusted,  so  that  operators  feel  they  are  safe  in  giving  the  bureau  confi- 
dential information,  the  greatest  difficulty  is  to  make  use  of  that  informa- 
tion. 

Very  few  of  the  mines  have  any  system  of  account  keeping,  and 
they  often  do  not  know  what  their  mine  construction  costs,  or  what  are 
the  items  that  make  up  the  cost  of  mining.  I  can  mention  one  very 
extreme  case  where  a  mining  concern  for  years  made  no  distribution 
of  cost  items;  the  only  accounts  that  had  been  kept  were  the  totals  of 
the  amounts  paid  out  and  the  moneys,  received.  It  had  no  knowledge 
whatever  of  what  its  product  was  costing,  no  separation  between  equip- 
ment and  running  cost. 

That  is  the  most  extreme  case  I  ever  ran  across,  but  there  are  all 
kinds  of  intermediate  conditions  found  in  mine  cost  keeping.  It  should 
be  of  great  value  to  the  operators  and  to  the  outside  public  to  formulate 
some  common  system  of  cost  keeping;  it  would  then  become  compara- 
tively, easy  for  the  s  Bureau  of  Mines  or  other  agency  to  get  accurate, 
understandable  mining  costs,  which  could  be  used  in  averages  for  dis- 
tricts without  giving  the  names  of  mines,  but  until  that  is  done,  from 
what  data  has  come  in,  I  really  do  not  see  how  any  compilation  of  value 
can  be  made. 


38  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

It  may  be  asked,  what  would  be  the  advantage  to  the  public  or  to 
private  interests  to  have  the  average  costs  of  certain  districts.  In  my 
opinion,  the  value  would  be  very  great.  First,  it  would  be  educational 
to  those  operators  who  do  not  "know  what  proper  accounting  systems 
are;  second,  it  would  enable  the  producers  of  certain  mineral  products 
which  are  in  strong  competition  to  show  from  such  district  figures  that 
they  could  not  stand  increases  in  railroad  or  steamship  freight  rates  or 
to  the  labor  leaders  that  the  mine  operators  might  not  be  able  to  stand 
any  increase  in  the  labor  costs  under  the  market  conditions. 

Finally,  in  this  day  co-operation  must  be  obtained  for  business  suc- 
cess, and  in  view  of  the  growing  partnership  between  the  industries  of 
the  country  and  the  Government,  with,  the  control  of  freight  rates  by 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  uniform,  accurate  figures  are  of 
the  utmost  importance  to  an  intelligent  sympathetic  co-operation  be- 
tween the  industries  and  the  National  Government. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  For  your  information  I  might  add  that 
in  one  of  my  recent  discussions  with  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  1 
was  told  that  they  would  very  gladly  lend  their  aid  in  that  direction  and 
endeavor  to  draw  off  special  forms  suitable  to  the  various  industries, 
which  would  be  submitted  to  the  various  industries  for  their  use,  with 
the  view  of  bringing  about  that  very  result,  and  Mr.  Hurley,  who  has 
made  a  study  of  that  subject,  expressed  himself  as  very  heartily  in  sym- 
pathy with  an  undertaking  of  that  character,  and  felt  that  much  good 
could  be  accomplished.  As  a  manufacturer,  he  found  that  the  severest 
competition  came  from  tho?e  who  kept  the  least  records.  The  larger 
companies,  who  know  what  their  products  cost  them,  were  usually  better 
competition  than  those  who  did  not,  and  as  Mr.  Rice  states,  unfortunately 
there  are  many  companies  whose  accounts  consist  of  a  resume  of  the 
amounts  checked  out,  and  the  balance  at  the  end  of  the  year  is  supposed 
to  represent  profit.  No  account  is  taken  of  other  things  which  must 
necessarily  enter  into  all  expense  and  operating  accounts. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ  (after  a  pause):  ""Tempus  fugitsP 

MR.  JOHN  P.  REESE:  Mr.  President,  we  have  had  a  very  inter- 
esting session  today  for  the  opening  day  of  the  Congress,  and  it  has 
been  intimated  that  they  have  out  here  in  Frisco  a  great  Exposition.  I 
live  at  least  thirty  miles  from  here — started  last  Monday.  We  have  two 
more  days  of  business,  and  I  suggest,  inasmuch  as  no  one  wants  very 
much  from  Uncle  Sam  nor  Congress,  that  we  adjourn  and  go  and  see 
the  fair,  and  1  make  that  motion. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Before  this  will  be  considered,  the  Sec- 
retary will  have  some  announcements  to  make,  which  I  will  ask  him 
to  do  now. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  We  have  an  invitation  from  tfce 
Convention  of  Mining  Stock  Brokers  which  will  be  held  in  this  building 
tomorrow,  to  attend  its  sessions. 

I  would  like  to  ask  those  who  have  not  registered  to  do  so  and 
make  themselves  an  official  part  of  this  convention.  The  Mining  Con- 
gress is  the  most  democratic  congress  in  the  mining  world.  We  not 
only  invite  those  who  are  not  members  of  the  Congress  to  be  an  official 
part  of  the  convention,  but  we  also  ask  them  to  become  members,  either 
active  members,  life  members,  or  if  the}'  do  not  feel  they  can  afford 
that,  associate  members.  The  associate  membership  costs  but  three 
dollars  the  first  year  and  two  dollars  each  year  thereafter,  and  carries 
with  it  a  subscription  to  the  Mining  Congress  Journal,  copies  of  which 
are  ready  for  distribution  in  the  rear  of  the  hall.  We  are  anxious  to 
use  the  Mining  Congress  Journal  as  a  medium  through  which  we  may 
carry  the  inside  information  concerning  the  mining  industry  to  those 
whose  influence  is  necessary  to  create  that  public  sentiment  which  we 
must  use  in  order  to  accomplish,  in  legislative  circles,  what  we  'want. 
The  Journals  are  free  for  distribution  and  examination.  We  will  be 
glad  to  have  your  support  of  the  organization  in  any  way  in  which  you 
feel  you  are  justified  in  giving  it. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  39 

I  want  to  again  call  your  attention  to  the  memorial  exercises 
tomorrow. 

The  banquet  in  honor  of  the  new  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines 
will  be  given  Wednesday  evening,  and  those  who  have  not  made  arrange- 
ments to  attend  will  kindly  do  so,  if  they  desire,  cither  with  Mr.  Wolcott 
or  with  the  Secretary's  office. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Was  there  a  second  to  Mr.  Reese's  mo- 
tion, if  it  was  a  motion? 

MR.  REESE:  It  was  just  a  suggestion.  I  now  make  it  as  a  motion, 
that  we  adjourn  until  10  a.  m.  tomorrow. 

DR.  DAY:  Just  a  moment,  before  we  put  that  motion,  I  would 
say  with  regard  to  the  matter  of  cost  accounting,  that  the  Palace  Hotel 
is  run  by  a  mining  engineer  on  mining  engineering  principles,  and  they 
do  their  mining  in  some  of  our  pockets  very  thoroughly  and  well. 
(Laughter.)  Now,  they  have  there  the  most  wonderful  system  of 
account  keeping  I  have  ever  seen.  I  feel  sure  if  any  mining  engineer  is 
interested  in  accounts  that  he  will  be  glad  to  study  their  system  of 
accounting,  which  is  on  this  curve  system.  It  is  one  of  the  most  won- 
derfully interesting  things  I  have  ever  seen  in  my  life,  and  it  is  a  strictly 
mining  proposition. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Each  guest  is  considered  a  lode 
of  ore  to  be  carefully  mined  and  properly  treated.  (Laughter.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Is  it  a  gold  extracting  proposition?  I 
fear  some  of  us  might  be  considered  as  dry  ore!  (Laughter.) 

The  motion  to  adjourn  was  put  and  carried. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  A  meeting  of  the  Board  of 
Directors  will  be  held  at  the  Palace  Hotel  at  5:30. 

Whereupon  at  4:05  o'clock  the  Monday  afternoon  session  of  the 
Convention  was  adjourned. 

TUESDAY  MORNING   SESSION. 
September  21,  1915,  10  A.  M. 

The  American  Mining  Congress  was  reconvened  in  the  Civic  Audi- 
torium at  10  o'clock  a.  m.  with  President  Scholz  presiding. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Gentlemen,  please  come  to  order.  Wre 
will  first  hear  from  the  Resolutions  Committee  this  morning. 

JUDGE  J.  H.  RICHARDS,  Chairman  of 'the  Resolutions  Commit- 
tee:    Mr.   President,  there  has  been  no  resolution   referred  to  the  com- 
mittee as  yet,  so  we  have  no  report  to  make. 
Secretary   Callbreath  presented 

Resolution  No.  1,  Introduced  by  the  Idaho  Delegation. 

Whereas,  More  than  half  the  area  of  the  United  States  west 
of  the  Mississippi  River  is  held  by  the  United  States  not  as  a 
sovereign,  but  as  a  proprietor"  in  trust  for  the  people,  and 

Whereas,  The  right  of  eminent  domain,  through  which  large 
public  utilities  are  enabled  to  secure  rights-of-way  for  the  construc- 
tion and  development  of  such  utilities  as  are  of  public  benefit,  was 
early  recognized  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  as  being 
necessary  to  western  development,  and  rights-of-way  over  the  pub- 
lic domain  were  granted  subject  to  such  supervisory  control  by  the 
Department  of  the  Interior  as  would  protect  the  interests  of  the 
public  and  the  rights  of  other  easements,  and 

Whereas,  During  recent  years  the  approval  of  such  rights-of- 
way  by  the  Department  of  the  Interior  has  been  frequently  ques- 
tioned, and  many  large  enterprises,  of  immense  importance  in  the 
development  of  western  enterprises,  have  been  prosecuted  by  the 
Federal  Government  with  a  view  to  the  cancellation  of  rights-of-way 
upon  which  such  developments  have  been  predicated,  and 

Whereas,  There  would  seem  to  be*  no  reason  why  proprietary 
title  of  the  Federal  Government  should  be  held  more  sacred  than 
the  rights  of  private  individuals;  therefore,  be  it 


40  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

Resolved,  By  the  American  Alining  Congress,  in  Eighteenth 
Annual  Convention  assembled,  that  this  Congress  hereby  make  pro- 
test against  the  restrictions  which  have  harassed  enterprises  already 
undertaken  and  have  prevented  the  undertaking  of  many 'other  enter- 
prises looking  to  a  higher  development  of  other  western  resources. 
Be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  we  protest  against  the  enactment  into  law 
of  the  principles  embodied  in  the  so-called  leasing  and  power  bills 
considered  by  the  last  session  of  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
and  again  urge  that  the  policy  of  Lincoln,  that  the  "public  lands  are 
a  national  public  possession,  held  in  trust  for  the  maturing  States," 
under  which  the  magnificent  progress  of  the  West  has  been  made, 
shall  not  be  radically  changed  in  opposition  to  the  wishes  of  the 
western  pioneers,  who  have  made  this  development  possible. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Under  the  rule,  this  will  be  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH  presented 
Resolution  No.  2,  Introduced  by  J.  E.  Kennedy,  of  Arizona. 

Resolved,  That  the  Mining  Congress  appoint  a  Committee  for 
the  investigation  of  housing  conditions,  with  the  object  of  bringing 
about  better  conditions  in  the  housing  of  mine  employes. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH  presented 
Resolution  No.  3,  Introduced  by  C.   F.  Willis,  Tucson,  Arizona. 

Whereas,  The  Arizona  Chapter  of  the  American  Mining  Con- 
gress has  been  in  operation  but  nine  months,  and  has  increased  its 
membership  from  15  to  500  members,  and  has  caused  a  fraternal 
feeling  heretofore  not  existing  between  the  mining  fraternity  and 
the  State  and  the  business  men  of  the  state;  and 

Whereas,  The  Arizona  Chapter  has  been  largely  instrumental 
in  preventing  legislation  which  was  seemingly  detrimental  to  the 
industry;  and 

Whereas,  The  Arizona  Chapter  assisted  great-ly  for  the  in- 
creased appropriation  for  the  Arizona  School  of  Mines,  and  was 
very  influential  in  the  establishment  of  the  Arizona  State  Bureau  of 
Mines;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  American  Mining  Congress  urge  upon  its 
members  the  advantages  of  State  chapters  and  assist  in  the  organi- 
zation of  such  chapters. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  These  are  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions  for  further  action. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  In  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
Chairman  of  your  Resolutions  Committee  is  familiar  with  the  work,  per- 
haps what  I  have  to  say  is  unnecessary,  but  let  me  ask  that  the  resolu- 
tions as  offered  to  the  Committee  be  returned  in  original  form  and 
without  change.  If  there  are  amendments  to  be  made,  let  them  be  made 
on  a  separate  sheet  and  noted  as  amendments,  and  referred  to  in  the 
report.  In  no  other  way  may  our  records  be  kept  complete  than  by 
having  the  original  on  the  original  sheet,  and  the  amendments,  if  any, 
written  on  a  separate  sheet.  If  this  suggestion  will  be  kindly  adhered 
to  by  the  Committee,  in  returning  the  original,  just  as  presented,  it  will 
be  of  great  help  in  making  up  the  record. 

I  would  like  again  to  make  announcement  concerning  the  memorial 
service  at  noon  today.  We  are  hoping  to  have  all  who  feel  disposed 
to  pay  tribute  to  the  memory  and  work  of  Dr.  Holmes  say  a  few  words — 
perhaps  only  enough  to  introduce  your  name  to  the  record,  and  you  will 
be  given  opportunity  hereafter  to  amplify  your  remarks.  We  make 
this  suggestion  to  allow  more  to  speak  than  could  express  themselves 
in  the  hour  that  has  been  given  to  this  service.  Therefore,  it  has  been" 
thought  wise  to  let  the  subject  be  introduced  by  the  speaker  and  give 
him  the  opportunity  to  amend  or  amplify  the  stenographic  report  of 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  41 

his  address  for  use  in  a  memorial  volume,  which  is  to  be  printed  by 
the  Congress  as  a  tribute  to  Dr.  Holmes. 

I  want  again  also  to  call  attention  to  the  banquet  on  Wednesday 
evening.  Thus  far  there  has  been  but  a  very  small  number,  perhaps 
fifty  tickets,  sold.  It  will  be  necessary  for  us  to  have  in  the  neighborhood 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  lickets  sold  to  pay  the  bills.  If  we  have  less 
than  that,  the  Mining  Congress  out  of  a  not  over  abundant  treasury 
will  be  compelled  to  make  up  the  deficit.  That's  one  point. 

Another  more  important  point  is,  friends,  if  we  in  the  West,  having 
worked  for  years  to  establish  a  Bureau  of  Mines,  and  the  Bureau,  after 
getting  the  appropriations,  is  working  out  our  western  problems,  if 
the  new  Director  as  now  appointed  is  brought  to  observe  that  we  fail 
to  pay  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  one  who  has  done  so  much  looking 
toward  the  splendid  achievement  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  it  will  be,  to 
my  mind,  a  misfortune.  I  would  like  to  constitute  every  one  of  you  a 
Committee  of  One  to  see  that  tickets  are  sold  in  sufficient  number  to 
insure,  the  success  of  this  banquet  by  tomorrow  morning,  inasmuch  as 
arrangements  must  be  completed  tomorrow  at  the  hotel  for  the  banquet, 
and  it  will  be  necessary  to  make  assignments  of  seats  to  those  gentle- 
men who  participate.  I  wish  you  would  consider  yourselves — all  of 
you — a  Committee  to  take  up  this  matter  and  see  to  it  that  we  have  three 
OP  four  hundred  people  at  this  banquet,  in  order  that  we  may  show  the 
real  thought  of  the  West  with  reference  to  the  Bureau  of  Mines. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  The  next  item  on  the  program  is  the 
final  report  of  the  Committee  on  Prevention  of  Mine  Accidents,  by 
Dr.  Ingalls. 

The  Committee's  report  was  read  to  the  Convention  by  Secretary 
Callbreath,  in  the  absence  of  the  Chairman,  Dr.  W.  R.  Ingalls,  of  New 
York  City. 

Final  Report  of  Committee  on  Prevention  of  Mine  Accidents. 

New  York,  August  17,  1915. 
J.  F.  Callbreath.  Esq., 

Secretary,  American  Mining  Congress, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
My  Dear  Mr.   Callbreath: 

Replying  to.  your  letter  of  August  13,  I  do  not  see  what  there  is  to 
be  said  in  the  \vay  of  a  final  report  by  our  Committee  to  the  American 
Mining  Congress,  except  something  like  this: 

The  Committee  on  the  Prevention  of  Mine  Accidents  that  was 
originally  appointed  by  the  American  Mining  Congress,  but  later  became 
a  Committee  of  Consulting  Engineers  in  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Mines,  to 
carry  on  the  same  work,  completed  its  investigations  and  studies  in  the 
early  part  of  1915,  and  delivered  its  report  to  the  Director  of  the  Bureau 
of  Mines  about  the  end  of  Alay.  This  report,  which  will  be  a  volume 
of  nearly  300  pages,  is  now  in  the  Government  Printing  Office,  and  will 
soon  be  published.  Yours  very  truly, 

W.  R.  INGALLS,  Chairman. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  want  to  say  that  this  work  is 
one  which  is  of  special  credit  to  the  Mining  Congress,  this  Committee 
having  worked  for  many  years  to  carry  out  this  idea.  When  the  expense 
of  the  Committee  got  so  burdensome  that  we  were  unable  to  carry  it. 
we  asked  the  Bureau  of  Mines  if  they  would  take  over  this  Committee, 
so  the  expense  could  be  paid  by  the  Government,  and  this  was  done. 
This  report  is  a  very  comprehensive  report — five  hundred  pages — and 
represents  the  work  of  five  of  the  more  prominent  engineers  of  the 
United  States,  and  is  one  of  verv  great  value.  You  can  receive  copies  of 
this  report  by  addressing  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Documents,  in 
Washington,  and  you  will  find  it  to  be  a  very  valuable  report. 


42  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

Report  of  Committee  on  Standardization  of  Electrical  Equipment 
in  Metal  Mines. 

Gas  &  Electric  Building,  Denver,  Colo.,  September  16,  1915. 
Mr.  James  F.   Callbrcath, 

Secretary,  American  Mining  Congress, 
Palace  Hotel,  'San  Francisco,  Cal. 

Dear  Sir-  Your  Committee  on  the  use  of  electrical  apparatus  in 
metal  mines  would  respectfully  report  as  follows:  that  during  the  year 
the  most  obvious  work  was  having  the  rules  adopted  by  the  Congress 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  various  State  Legislatures  wherein  min- 
ing takes  place.  An  aralysis  of  this  situation  has  made  your  Committee 
fully  convinced  that  the  proper  method  of  approach  is  to  first  have  these 
rules  endorsed  by  the  American  Association  of  Mining  Engineers  and 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers.  We  would,  therefore, 
recommend  that  the  President  of  the  Congress  invite  these  two  national 
organizations  to  assist  in  this  work,  appointing  a  Committee  to  confer 
with  the  Committee  of  the  Congress.  Yours  very  truly, 

H.  S.  SANDS,  Chairman. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  The  next  item  on  our  program  is  a 
report  of  the  Committee  on  Uniform  Mine  Reports,  by  Mr.  Samuel  A. 
Taylor,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  Chairman. 

Report  of  Committee  on  Uniform  Mine  Reports. 

Your  Committee  can  only  report  progress.  We  have  in 'mind  a 
considerable  amcunt  of  work  to  be  done.  We  have  not  had  a  meeting 
of  our  Committee  as  a  whole,  but  considerable  correspondence  has 
pa-scd  between  the  m-mbers.  Mr.  McKinlcy  and  the  undersigned  have 
been  working  with  the  coal  operators  of  the  State  of  West  Virginia 
relative  to  a  uniform  system  of  cost  keeping,  with,  what  seems  now 
to  be,  some  success. 

We  have  also  thought  it  worth  the  effort  to  have  the  new  "Trade 
Commission"  of  the  National  Government  formulate  a  uniform  system 
of  accounting,  on  somewhat  similar  lines  as  to  that  which  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  established  for  the  railroads  of  the  country. 
We  believe  that  this  would  be  a  good  move  toward  the  establishment 
of  a  uniform  cost  keeping  method,  which,  if  carried  out,  we  think,  would 
be  of  great  good  to  the  mining  industry,  and  would  be  the  entering 
wedge  for  other  uniform  reports.  Your  Committee  would  be  very  glad 
to  know  the  opinion  of  the  Congress  on  this  matter,  and  will  await 
your  action  with  interest.  Respectfully  submitted, 

S.    A.    TAYLOR,    Chairman. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  May  I  say  in  connection  with 
this  report  that  it  does  not  really  show  what  the  purpose  of  it  is.  As 
time  goes  on,  the  mining  companies  are  required  to  make  an  increasing 
number  of  rer.orts.  giving  an  increased  amount  of  information  concern- 
ing various  phaees  of  their  operations.  We  have  in  Washington  six  or 
ceven  bureaus  all  calling  at  different  times  of  the  year  for  reports  from 
mining  companies,  asking  various  kinds  of  information.  Each  State 
has  its  own  authorities,  its  labor  commission,  its  bureau  of  mines,  its 
geological  survey  and  industrial  commission,  and  other  commissions, 
and  they  are  all  seeking  for  reports.  In  some  of  the  big  companies  it 
practically  requires  two  or  three  bookkeepers  all  the  year  round  in  order 
to  compile  and  furnish  the  mass  of  information  and  data  required  by 
these  various  State  and  Governmental  offices  and  bureaus.  The  purpose 
of  this  Committee  is  to  work  out  a  uniform  system  of  reports  so  that 
the  same  report  which  you  make  to  the  Federal  Government  will  carry 
the  information  which  all  of  the  departments  at  Washington  desire  from 
you,  and  that  the  same  information  contained  in  that  report  mav  also 
go  to  all  of  the  State  departments;  in  other  words,  to  embody  in  one 
big  report  the  entire  matter,  so  that  one  report  per  year  will  be  all  that 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  43 

is  required  of  you  as  manager  of  the  mine.  This  will  save  a  great  many 
thousand  dollars  to  the  larger  companies,  and  as  time  goes  on,  the 
smaller  companies  will  find  it  of  advantage  as  well,  because  the  demand 
for  these  records 'will  continue  and  with  the  increased  cost  of  control  of 
mines,  the  furnishing  of  such  information  will  prove  increasingly  expen- 
sive and  burdensome.  If  this  works  out,  as  the  Committee  hopes,  it 
will  be  of  great  and  lasting  benefit  to  this  industry.  Mr.  Chairman,  may 
I  suggest  that  the  Tngalls  report  on  the  Prevention  of  Mine  Accidents 
represents  so  large  a  volume  of  work  that  it  seems  to  me  that  this 
convention  should  accept  this  report  and  tender  to  the  members  of  that 
Committee  a  vote  of  thanks  for  their  valuable  service  in  that  behalf. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  A  motion  to  -that  effect  will  be  enter- 
tained. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  Mr.  President,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  some 
of  us  know  the  great  amount  of  work  they  have  undertaken  and  accom- 
plished, as  an  expression  of  our  appreciation  of  the  work  they  have  done, 
as  indicated  by  this  report,  I  move  you  that  we  accept  the  report  as 
read,  and  that  we  express  our  appreciation  of  the  work  of  this  Com- 
mittee. 

The  motion  was  thereupon  seconded,  put  and  carried. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     The  ayes  have  it.     It  is  so  ordered. 

The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Revision  of  Mineral  Land  Laws, 
Mr.  E.  B.  Kirby,  Chairman,  is  next  in  order. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  President,  the  work  of  this 
Committee  is  also  one  of  very  great  importance,  and  if  you  will  permit 
me,  I  will  make  a  statement  on  behalf  of  the  Committee,  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  the  report  which  they  have  prepared  will  not  be  here  until 
tomorrow,  too  late,  perhaps,  to  be  presented  in  full  at  that  time  to  the 
convention.  Mr.  Kirby,  of  St.  Louis,  who  is  Chairman  of  this  Committee, 
has  worked  very  effectively  in  carrying  this  matter  out.  The  plan  pro- 
posed was  to  ask  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  create  a  commis- 
sion which  would  give  hearings  in  all  of  the  western  mining  centers 
with  a  view  to  ascertaining  exactly  what  the  mining  men  of  the  West 
want  with  reference  to  a  change  in  the  mining  laws.  I  think  it  is 
agreed  that  every  man  looks  upon  some  particular  phase  of  the  mining 
laws  as  being  objectionable.  It  was  thought  that  we  might  not  be  able 
to  agree  upon  just  the  changes  that  should  be  made  and  therefore  it 
was  proposed  to  have  this  matter  worked  out  by  a  commission  which 
should  be  appointed  by  Congress  who  would  give  hearings  and 
make  reports  to  Congress  as  to  the  needs  and  conditions  of  the  western 
mining  men,  in  order  that  the  revision  might  meet  the  practical  situa- 
tion as  presented.  Working  along  that  line,  a  bill  was  presented  last 
winter,  which  passed  the  Senate,  but  we  failed  to  get  it  through  the 
House  because  of  the  fact  that  Congress  did  not  feel  like  making  the 
necessary  appropriation  for  the  Committee.  The  bill  provided  that  mem- 
bers should  work  for  compensation,  but  that  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
should  be  appropriated,  and  that  the  commission  should  be  given  the 
right  to  subpoena  witnesses,  so  that  the  poor  prospector  who  could 
not  spare  the  time  to  go  a  long  distance  to  testify  as  to  his  needs  could 
be  taken  care  of  and  the  money  would  be  available  in  the  hands  of  this 
commission  to  take  care  of  such  matters.  That  was  the  plan  of  the 
House  bill.  The  Senate  bill  provided  compensation,  and  of  course  that 
had  to  be  worked  out  in  Conference  Committee,  but  this  Committee  is 
still  working  on  that  plan  since  that  time.  All  the  mining  engineers 
favor  it,  and  I  believe  that  at  the  next  session  of  Congress  we  will  be 
able  to  get  a-bill  approved,  and  you  gentlemen  can  go  to  a  commission 
and  point  out  the  defects  in  the  present  mining  law  with  a  view  to  a 
revision,  which  will  meet  the  requirements  of  the  West.  Mr.  Kirby 
wired  me  that  his  report  would  reach  the  convention  very  shortly,  and 
I  hope  that  we  will  have  it  here  tomorrow,  but  I  make  this  preliminary 
report,  knowing  practically  what  Mr.  Kirby  would  say  were  he  here. 


44  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

Report  of  the  Committee  on  Revision  of  the  Mineral  Land  Laws. 

The  American  Mining  Congress  inaugurated  and  has  for  some 
years  been  leading  the  movement  for  a  gcnefal  revision  of  the  mineral 
land  laws  of  the  United  States. 

The  present  laws  framed  in  1872  are  40  years  behind  the  times. 
They  have  never  conformed  to  the  facts  of  geological  structure  and 
are  not  adapted  to  present  methods  of  prospecting,  developing  or  financ- 
ing mining  properties.  The  widespread  dissatisfaction  of  the  mining 
public  with  them  has  long  been  expressed  through  every  means  at  its 
command.  Judges,  lawyers,  engineers,  geologists  and  mining  men  of 
every  class  have  been  pointing  out  the  various  faults  and  evils  of  the 
present  code.  Distinguished  men,  technical  journals,  mining  and  engineer- 
ing societies  have  again  and  again  voiced  their  criticisms  and  discussed 
methods  of  reform,  but  all  without  effect  upon  an  indifferent  Govern- 
ment at  Washington. 

There  was  no  relief  in  sight  until  the  American  Mining  Congress 
undertook  to  concentrate  all  effort  towards  reform  upon  the  creation  of 
a  commission  which  should  visit  the  mining  communities  and  secure 
the  results  of  their  experienced  judgment  as  a  basis  for  intelligent  revi- 
sion by  Congress. 

The  movement  toward  this  has  steadily  grown  until  the  administra- 
tion and  Congress  were  obliged  to  recognize  it,  and  last  year  a  bill  for 
a  Revision  Commission  was  approved  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior 
and  passed  by  the  Seriate.  A  similar  bill  in  the  House  v/as  favorably 
reported  by  its  Committee  on  Mines  and  Mining,  but  was  hung  up  by 
the  pressure  of  other  business  and  Congress  adjourned  without  taking 
action.  Since  then  the  war  and  its  complications  have  absorbed  the 
attention  of  Congress,  of  the  administration  and  of  the  general  public. 
Under  these  conditions,  it  was  understood  that  any  effort  to  push  mining 
law  revision  at  the  last  session  of  Congress  would  be  labor  wasted  and 
that  this  reform,  like  other  measures  for  internal  improvement,  would 
have  to  be  held  in  suspense  during  the  present  storm. 

Meanwhile,  the  forces  back  of  the  revision  movement  have  steadily 
grown  in  strength.  The  two  great  organizations  of  the  mining  pro- 
fessions, the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  and  the  Mining  ahd 
Metallurgical  Society  of  America,  are  supporting  the  movement  to  the 
limit  of  their  ability,  but  the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers 
has  been  restricted  by  provisions  in  its  constitution  which  prevented 
it  from  taking  up  public  questions.  The  desire  to  secure  revision,  how- 
ever, was  so  overwhelming  as  to  raise  the  whole  question  of  freedom  of 
action  for  the  institute,  with  the  result  that  the  restrictions  were  removed 
at  the  time  of  its  last  annual  meeting  in  February  and  it  is  now  free  to 
devote  its  energies  to  the  cause. 

It  is  the  intention  of  your  Committee  not  to  press  matters  while 
the  present  tension  exists  at  Washington,  but  to  move  vigorously  in 
co-operation  with  the  other  societies  mentioned  as  soon  as  the  friends 
of  revision  in  Congress  advise  that  action-  is  practicable.  It  is  now 
probable  that  this  time  will  arrive  during  the  coming  session.  Having 
so  nearly  attained  success  last  year,  it  is  intended  to  press  forward  at 
the  first  opportunity. 

The  following  draft  of  bill  adopted  by  the  American  Mining  Con- 
gress for  recommendation  to  Congress  is  one  which,  after  several  years 
of  experience,  was  designed  to  harmonize  the  many  conflicting  views 
and  to  minimize  criticism  and  opposition  so  far  as  possible.  It  seems 
to  have  accomplished  this  so  far  as  any  suggestion  to  Congress  can  do 
so  and  has  been  the  basis  for  the  actual  bills  framed  by  the  Senate 
and  the  House  committees. 

Preliminary  Draft  Suggested  for  a  Joint  Resolution  of  the 
Senate  and  House. 

That  Congress  shall-  undertake  a  general  revision  of  the  laws 
relating  to  mineral  bearing  lands  and  mineral  rights  within  the  United 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  45 

States  and  Alaska  and  such  revision  shall  cover  mineral  deposits  of 
every  kind  except  those  of  coal,  oil,  phosphates  and  salines,  which 
have  been  set  aside  as  the  subjects  of  other  and  special  legislation. 

In  view  of  the  technical  nature  of  the  problems  presented  by  the 
work,  it  is  desired  to  secure  first  the  results  of  the  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence which  exists  among  those  who  are  engaged  in  the  mining  industry. 

To  this  end  the  President  shall,  within  60  days  hereafter,  appoint 
a  commission  of  five  members  who  shall  be  selected  for  their  recognized 
knowledge  and  experience  in  the  mining  industry. 

The  commission  shall  consider  the  mining  laws  of  this  and  other 
countries  and  shall  hold  public  hearings  in  the  principal  mining  centers 
of  the  western  States  and  Alaska,  giving  full  opportunity  for  the 
expression  of  public  opinion  concerning  the  problems  before  it.  Its 
recommendation  shall  be  presented  in  the  form  of  a  fully  drafted  mining 
code. 

Within  six  months  after  the  appointment  of  the  commission  its 
report  shall  be  delivered  to  the  President,  who  shall  within  30  days 
thereafter  transmit  it  to  Congress  with  his  further  recommendations,  if 
there  be  any. 

Members  of  the  commission  shall  receive  per  diem  with  expenses 
and  shall  engage  such  clerical  assistance  as  may  be  necessary  for  the 
work. 

Clause  providing  for  the  necessary  appropriation. 

Your  Committee  desires  to  again  impress  upon  the  American  Min- 
ing Congress  that  the  recommendations  of  the  Congress  upon  any  mat- 
ter, to  be  effective,  must  be  properly  presented  at  Washington,  and  this 
requires  steady,  persistent  work  by  someone  who  can  stay  there.  Its 
Secretary  must,  therefore,  be  given  the  means  with  which  to  carry  on  his 
work  there  in  the  proper  way.  This  is  absolutely  necessary  to  supple- 
ment the  efforts  of  your  various  committees  who  can  only  act  through 
correspondence  and  the  occasional  'visits  of  their  members. 

EDMUND  B.  KIRBY,  Chairman. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  In  introducing  the  speaker  this  morning,' 
I  would  like  to  make  a  few  remarks.  When  I  first  engaged  in  the 
mining  industry  some  thirty-five  years  ago,  I  thought  that  the  most 
important  thing  I  had  to  do  was  to  find  a  mine.  I  have  since  that  time, 
however,  changed  my  mind  very  decidedly,  and  have  concluded  that 
finding  a  mine  was  a  simple  thing,  but  to  operate  it  and  operate  it  suc- 
cessfully and  operate  it  in  keeping  with  the  laws  of  which  there  are  such 
a  great  number,  made  it  necessary  that  before  opening  a  mine  we  find 
a  lawyer,  because  without  lawyers  we  cannot  succeed.  I  am  sorry  I 
was  not  educated  to  be  a  lawyer,  because  I  find  that  lawyers  usually 
get  the  money  and  we  have  the  pleasure  of  doing  the  work. 

The  speaker  who  is  to  address  you  this  morning  is  particularly 
fitted  to  discuss  the  subject  in  hand,  because  he  has  given  many  years 
of  study  to  the  matter.  Mr.  Rush  C.  Butler,  of  Chicago,  is,  as  you  will 
see,  a  man  of  very  youthful  appearance,  but  his  remarks  will  surprise 
you,  I  am  sure,  because  they  speak  of  large  wisdom,  and  indeed  Mr. 
Butler's  ability  has  been  recognized  by  his  appointment  by  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  of  the  United  States  as  a  member  of  its  Federal  Trade 
Advisory  Committee.  I  will  call  on  Mr.  Butler  to  come  forward  and 
deliver  his  address,  which  is  entitled  "Constructive  Regulation  of  Busi- 
ness— including  a  discussion  of  the  Sherman  Law,  the  Clayton  Bill,  and 
the  Federal  Trade  Commission." 

Mr.  Butler's  address  will  be  found  at  page  117  of  this  report. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  We  have  greatly  enjoyed  the  instructive 
paper  prepared  by  Mr.  Butler.  I  believe  there  are  many  in  this  room 
who  believe  that  competition  is  the  essence  of  life,  and  from  those  who 
favor  those  expressions  by  Mr.  Butler,  we  will  be  very  glad  to  hear  for 
the  next  twenty-five  minutes  at  least,  and  continued  at  the  afternoon 
session  if  we  cannot  finish  discussions  of  this  important  subject. 


46  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

Just  as  in  certain  business  lines  competition  maintains  a  higher 
standard,  so  do  we  believe  it  is  necessary  in  the  Government  affairs  that 
different  people  express  their  views  in  order  to  improve  Government 
conditions  and  Government  regulations.  We  would  be  very  glad  to  hear 
from  anyone  present  his  views  on  the  paper  as  read  by  Mr.  Butler,  and 
on  the  subject  in  hand. 

Mr.  Saunders,  whose  name  is  here  on  the  program,  is,  unfortunately 
for  us,  presiding  over  another  meeting  on  the  floor  below,  and  cannot 
be  present. 

DR.  DAVID  T.  DAY:  Mr.  Chairman,  in  order  to, start  discussion 
on  this  most  valuable  paper,  I  would, just  like  to  ask  one  question.  It 
is  perfectly  evident  that  in  the  matter  of  administering  corporations  in 
this  country,  and  maintaining  obedience  to  the  Sherman  Act  and  to  the 
Clayton  Act,  we  are  putting  the  industries  of  the  United  States  under 
a  tremendous  handicap  which,  I  believe  that  the  Clayton  Act  can,  if  it  is 
properly  apnlied,  overcome  or  aid.  We  know  that  our  corporations  are 
made  to  obey  the  law  very  well  at  the  present  time.  The  natural  result 
has  been  to  favor  foreign  monopolies  from  countries  where  the  monop- 
oly, instead  of  being  frowned  upon,  is  greatly  stimulated  by  the  state. 
I  would  like  to  ask  what  provision  is  made  for  the  treatment  of  monop- 
oly products,  and  for  the  operations  of  monopolies,  when  those  products 
reach  these  shores  from  abroad.  We  know  that  the  present  time  is 
extremely  favorable  for  the  development  of  chemical  industries  in  the/ 
United  States  and  does  not  depend  upon  internal  conditions;  it  depends 
practically — solely — on  the  attitude  which  this  Government  shall  take 
toward  the  regulation  of  foreign  monopolies  in  so  far  as  their  nroducts 
reach  the  markets  of  the  United  States.  (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Was  that  a  question  which  you  put  to 
Mr.  Butler,  Dr.  Day? 

DR.  DAY:     To  Mr.  Butler,  yes. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     Will   Mr.  Butler  favor  us  with  a  reply? 

MR.  BUTLER:  Mr.  President,  I  should  like  to  say  to  Dr.  Day 
that  I  am  not  opposed  to  any  law  that  protects  rn  any  way  the  people 
of  this  country  against  the  monopolistic  prices  or  practices  of  foreign- 
made  or  foreign-produced  goods.  Those  goods  reach  these  shores. 
They  can  pass  through  the  custom  house  upon  the  payment  of  duty, 
and  I  know  of  no  limitation  upon  that  right.  I  know  of  no  law  that 
reaches  the  manufacturers  or  producers  of  those  articles  abroad.  In 
general,  it  is  my  idea  in  reply  to  Dr.  Day's  question,  that  while  our  own 
manufacturers  and  producers  are  subject  to  the  Sherman  law  and  to 
the  two  newly  enacted  regulatory  statutes,  foreign  manufacturers  and 
producers  are  not. 

DR.  DAY:  Mr.  President,  I  would  like,  then,  perhaps  to  make 
my  point  a  little  clearer — taking  a  specific  case — of  the  by-product  coke 
oven  people  in  this  country.  The  producers  of  oils  are  capable  of  turn- 
ing out  any  desired  quantity  of  the  raw  materials  for  the  manufacture 
of  aniline  dyes.  We  could  build  up  that  industry  slowly,  because  we 
are  dealing  with  many  hundreds  of  individual  dyes.  We  have  to  build 
up  the  industry  a  few  dyes  at  a  time.  It's  the  only  way.  principally 
because  it  takes  a  great  deal  of  skill  in  the  production  of  those  dyes  at 
reasonable  prices.  Now,  the  United  States  chemical  industry  is  prepared 
to  go  into  that,  but  they  are  up  against,  as  we  say  colloquially,  about  the 
hardest  conditions  that  the  industrials  of  a  country  can  possibly  experi- 
ence, and  that  is,  that  in  Germany — and  not  Germany  alone,  but  princi- 
pally Germany— all  of  these  dyes  are  manufactured,  some  by  one  con- 
cern and  some  by  another,  and  w7here  one  concern  makes' one  set,  it's 
very  apt  to  be  the  producer  of  what  they  call  intermediates,  that  is, 
products  artificially  made,  which  are  turned  over  to  another  special  fac- 
tory, and  that  factory  will  turn  their  intermediates  to  another,  so  that 
factory  after  factory  is  working  in  Germany  as  a  sort  of  network, 
comprising  one  establishment,  each  hand  washing  the  other,  so  to  speak, 
and  co-operating — yes,  if  you  want  to  term  it  "co-operating/'  they  ccr- 


,  AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  47 

tainly  are  "co-operating"  to  make  one  monopoly  in  Germany  on  the 
manufacture  oi  aniline  dyes,  and  they  are  thoroughly  supported  by  the 
state.  Now,  what  is  the  effect?  Why,  suppose  we  make  a  given  dye? 
This  has  been  tried  again  and  again.  The  Buffalo  case  is  the  one  that 
is  celebrated  in  this  country,  where  a  comparatively  small  concern  set 
to  work  to  make  a  certain  black  dye  that  was  needed  in  this  country, 
a  particularly  good  one,  of  course.  As  soon  as  that  dye  went  on  the 
market,  its  price  went  down,  because  it  .could  be  distributed  through 
many  hands.  Perhaps  they  got  that  idea  of  competition  from  the  United 
States  at  some  time  or  other.  1  would  not  be  sure  that  they  did  not;  it 
sounds  somewhat  familiar!  But  at  any  rate  the  price  of  that  particular 
dye  in  the  United  States  went  so  far  below  cost  that  that  factory  went 
out  of  business  before  it  began,  practically.  Now  that  occurs  again 
and  again,  that  just  as  soon  as  the  United  States  sends  out  two  or  three 
dyes  for  sale  in  the  United  States  the  price  of  that  dye  drops  below 
all  reason  in  the  United  States,  because  that  is  only  two  or  three  of 
many  hundreds,  and  the  loss  can  be  distributed  over  the  others.  Now, 
that  is  such  a  flagrant  condition  in  the  United  States;  it's  a  condition 
that's  going  to  apply  to  many  others,  that  in  fairness  to  our  own  people, 
it  is  impossible  to  try  to  apply  a  law  here,  and  not  apply  it  internation- 
ally; and  if  the  Trade  Commission  wants  to  secure  the  practical  support 
of  the  industrials  in  the  United  States,  that  is  the  thing  that  must  be 
looked  out  for.  It  seems  to  me  I  heard  a  quotation  from  the  law 
providing  for  very  careful  inquiries  into  the  industrial  conditions  which 
affect  the  United  States  in  foreign  countries.  If  I  am  right  in  that,  let 
us  hope  that  that  will  be  so  vigorously  applied  that  we  will  look  out  for 
the  conditions  abroad  first,  if  we  want  to  make  the  reputation  of  really 
helping  our  industrials  at  home.  (Applause.) 

MR.  IRA  J.  FRANCIS,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.:  Mr.  Chairman,  possibly 
I  can  throw  a  little  light  on  that  problem.  Just  a  few  weeks  ago  the 
Federal  Trade  Commission  held  a  hearing  in  Los  Angeles,  and  the  plan 
of  the  hearing  as  outlined  by  Commissioner  Hurley  was  along  identi- 
cally the  same  lines  you  raised,  and  all  the  questions  were  along  that 
line  as  to  the  effect  of  foreign  competition  on  our  industrials,  and  the 
effect  of  foreign  industrials  on  those  produced  in  our  country.  I  think 
that  is  exactly  the  line  they  are  inquiring  on  now. 

DR.  WILLIAM  B.  PHILLIPS:  'Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  like  to 
take  part  in  this  discussion,  because  there  has  arisen  in  most  States  a 
condition  of  affairs  very  much  to  the  point.  Those  who  engage  in 
chemical  affairs  have -known  for  many  years  we  did  not  produce  in  this 
country  porcelain  which  could  compare  with  that  of  foreign  make.  I 
speak  particularly  of  crucibles,  evaporating  dishes,  casseroles  and  large 
porcelain  dishes  used  in  chemical  manufactures.  When  the  war  broke 
out  last  year,  it  looked  as  though  some  people  had  had  a  tip  before- 
hand, because  some  concerns,  we  believe,  laid  in  a  very  large  supply. 
Those  supplies  lasted  until  about  March  or  April  of  this  year,  when 
they  were  so  far  depleted  that  you  could  not  get  an  evaporating  dish  or 
casserole  or  crucible  for  love  or  money  anywhere.  Some  people  in  our 
State  thereupon  began  to  manufacture — began  experiments  in  the  manu- 
facture of  a  crucible  casserole  and  large  evaporating  dish,  which  would 
take  the  place  of  the  imported  warev  and  they  have  met  with  most  re- 
markable success.  They  have  recently  placed  an  order  for  sixty  thou- 
sand pieces  with  a  firm  in  New  York  which  for  the  last  twenty  years 
has  concerned  itself  with  the  importation  of  this  material  from  abroad. 
They  are  making  a  first-class  material,  and  getting  the  price  which 
formerly  maintained  for  the  imported  article.  For  instance,  they  sell 
chemical  crucibles  for  eleven  cents.  They  retail  at  twenty-five  cents, 
and  that's  been  the  price  for  Royal  burning  crucibles  of  that  size  for 
the  last  thirty  years.  Well,  what  is  going  to  happen  when  the  war 
breaks?  It  cannot  go  on  forever.  R  will  not  be  like  the  celebrated 
brook  of  Mr.  Tcnnvson's  that  qoes  gabbling  on  through  the  ages,  but 
sorne  day  or  other  that  war  will  conic  to  an  end.  Now,  what's  going  to 


48  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

happen  in  the  case  of  aniline  dyes?  Dr.  Day  is  perfectly  right;  we  shall 
meet  with  such  prices  as  will  crush  anybody  who  goes  into  the  busi- 
ness here,  and  in  the  case  of  casseroles,  large  evaporating  dishes,  high- 
grade  china  and  porcelain,  these  will  meet,  I  think,  with  the  same 
conditions. 

Now,  then,  we  come  out  from  the  domain  of  federal  trade  relations 
into  that  of  the  tariff.  Now,  we  need  not  blink  at  that  matter.  I  don't 
care  whether  I  address  Republicans  or  good  old  Bull  Moosers  or  Demo- 
crats! (Laughter.)  or  what  it  may  be;  I  am  talking  ordinary  common 
sense.  We  are  coming,  after  the  conclusion  of  this  war,  to  a  very  serious 
condition  which  only  tariff  relations  can  change,  or  in  any  wise  affect. 
We  may  build  up  these  industries  now  under  the  peculiar  conditions 
which  now  maintain,  which  prevent  the  importation  of  a  great  many 
articles  from  abroad.  We  think  we  are  building  up  industries  in  this 
country  to  take  the  place  of  those,  and  in  some  particulars  we  are.  But 
what's  going  to  be  the  effect  after  the  war  terminates,  and  this  great 
flood  of  stuff  comes  again  into  our  country?  Now,  where  are  we  to 
stand?  It  seems  to  me  that  the  most  important  part  of  the  matter, 
which  Mr.  Butler  has  so  ably  presented  to  us,  is  not  the  trade  relations 
of  domestic  affairs,  but  the  trade  relations  of  foreign  affairs,  and  that 
will  go  into  what  our  old  friend  General  Hancock  meant  when  he  said, 
''The  tariff  is  a  local  issue/'  (Laughter.) 

I  remember  a  number  of  years  ago  I  was  living  in  the  State  of 
Alabama,  and  the  Wilson  Bill — the  Wilson  of  West  Virginia — contem- 
plated taking  off  the  duty  on  coal  and  iron.  Whereupon  those  good  old 
rock-bound  Democrats  of  Alabama  appointed  a  Committee  to  go  to 
Washington  to  protest  against  this  because  it  would  interfere  with  their 
business,  and  the  Chairman  of  that  Committee  was  an  old  rock-bound 
Republican,  and  you  never  saw  such  harmony  in  your  life!  (Laughter.) 
The  lion  lay  down  with  the  lamb  peaceably,  because  the  lamb  was  inside 
of  the  lion!  (Laughter.) 

In  the  state  in  which  I  have  recently  lived — Texas — we  had  great 
rejoicing  there  when  something  was  said  about  helping  the  wool  in- 
dustry. The  way  they  helped  it  was  to  take  the  tariff  off  the  wool,  and 
if  those  people  had  any  other  ticket  than  the  Democratic  to  vote  they 
would  take  advantage  of  the  next  opportunity  to  vote  it. 

After  the  conclusion  of  this  war,  we  will  face  such  conditions  as 
have  not  maintained  in  this  country  for  a  great  many  years  with  respect 
to  industrials  now  building  up,  not  those  that  have  been  established  for 
years,  but  those  that  are  building  up  under  war  conditions.  The  manu- 
facture of  aniline  dyes  from  coal  is  one  of  those  industries.  The  manu- 
facture of  high  grade  porcelain,  large  evaporating  dishes,  used  in  every 
chemical  manufacture  in  the  United  States,  of  crucibles  and  casseroles, 
of  a  dozen  things  that  might  be  enumerated  here — all  those  come  under 
war  conditions,  and  I  would  like  to  ask  Mr.  Butler,  is  this  new  Federal 
Trade  Commission  considering  the  effect  of  the  law  upon  American 
business  in  this  particular?  (Applause.) 

MR.  BUTLER:  I  think  the  answer  has  already  been  made  to  the 
question  by  Mr.  Francis,  who  stated  that  the  commission  in  its  hearing 
at  Los  Angeles  confined  its  inquiries  almost  entirely  and  exclusively  to 
the  foreign  trade  situation.  The  hearings  that  were  conducted  by  the 
commission,  beginning  in  July  in  Chicago,  extended  all  over  the  country 
west  of  Detroit,  I  think,  and"  those  hearings  had  to  do  exclusively  with 
foreign  trade,  not  only  import,  but  export  business.  Just  what  effect  the 
building  up  of  a  new  industry  in  this  country  during  the  foreign  war  will 
have  upon  the  conclusions  of  the  commission  in  that  particular  of  course 
would  be  very  difficult  to  prophesy.  The  thought  occurred  to  me  while 
Dr.  Day  was  speaking,  with  reference  to  the  illustration  used  by  him, 
that  it  was  more  a  question  of  tariff  law  than  regulatory  law.  The  in- 
dustries in  this  country  now  building,  and  into  which  very  high-priced 
labor  must  essentially  go,  will  perhaps  require  special  protection,  not  in 
a  regulatory  way,  but  by  tariff  law,  in  order  that  they  may  be  properly 


•  AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  49 

developed.  I  do  not  want  to  go  into  the  political  situation,  but  it  seems 
to  me  that  we  necessarily  must  raise  these  points.  I  have  no  doubt  the 
commission  in  its  deliberations  and  conclusions  will  point  out  the  rela- 
tionship existing  between  regulation  and  the  tariff  with  reference  to  im- 
ports. With  reference  to  exports,  we  are  not  confronted  with  the  same 
difficulties.  There  is  a  very  substantial  basis  for  the  legal  opinion  that 
our  laws  do  not  prohibit  or  inhibit  or  restrain  in  any  way  companies 
doing  business  in  this  country,  formed  for  the  purpose  of  selling  goods 
abroad.  In  my  opinion,  the  law  does  not  meet  that  situation  as  it  now 
stands. 

MR.  RICHARD  MANSFIELD  WHITE:  Mr.  President,  when 
the  Federal  Trades  Commission  was  in  the  State  of  Washington,  I  at- 
tended one  of  its  meetings  at  Tacoma,  before  which  the  lumber  men 
appeared,  and  the  whole  burden  of  their  cry  seemed  to  be,  "Please  regu- 
late us.  We  want  our  business  regulated."  It  was  an  astonishing  re- 
quest to  me;  it  was  an  astonishing  statement  to  some  of  the  other  people 
there.  We  thought  that  the  lumber  interests  were  perfectly  able  to  regu- 
late themselves,  but  if  the  minutes  of  the  Federal  Trades  Commission 
were  read  before  this  body  here,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  almost  every 
member  here  w.ould  be  certainly  astonished  at  the  testimony  given  there 
in  the  City  of  Tacoma  regarding  regulation  of  corporations. 

My  friend  from  Texas  reminds  me  of  another  one  of  my  friends 
from  Texas  known  as  "What  are  we  here  for,  Flanigan?"  (Laughter.) 
The  gentleman  who  first  spoke  upon  this  question  certainly  has  raised 
the  tariff  question.  Let  me  remind  this  convention  that  the  reasons  why 
tariff  was  placed  upon  imported  goods  in  this  country  were  because  of 
the  combination  especially  made  in*  Great  Britain  immediately  after  our 
\Var  of  Independence,  and  before  our  \Var  of  Independence,  to  'crush 
out  manufacturers — or  manufactures  made  in  the  colonies  and  in  the 
United  States,  and  that  is  the  reason  why  George  Washington  and 
Thomas  Jefferson  both  signed  the  tariff  laws.  All  you  have  to  do  is  to 
go  back  and  go  into  that  history,  if  you  want  to  go  into  it,  to  find  out 
the  cause  for  our  tariff  laws.  I  remember  when  I  appeared  before  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  representing  the  State  of  New  Mexico — at 
that  time  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico — on  the  question  of  imported 
ores  from  the  Sierra  Mojada  range  from  Mexico  into  New  Mexico — and 
I  want  to  say  in  regard  to  what  the  gentleman  said  here,  that  the  cor- 
porations obey  the  laws — they  do  not  obey  the  laws;  they  haven't  obeyed 
the  laws;  they  are  constantly  violating  the  laws;  they  are  the  evil  exam- 
ples of  the  violation  of  law.  And  that's  the  reason  why  we  are  asking 
for  'regulation.  These  corporations  were  going  down  into  Old  Mexico, 
and  importing  into  New  Mexico  and  into  the  United  States  lead  ores, 
and  perjuring  themselves  by  swearing  that  they  were  dry  ores,  high 
grade  silver  ores,  and  gold  ores,  and  we  had  to  appear  before  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  to  regulate  the  matter,  and  prevent  their  doing 
this  wrong,  doing  this  evil,  to  our  own  people,  mining  and  smelting  and 
manufacturing  lead  in  this  country.  They  were  going  and  making  their 
combinations  in  Mexico  and  coming  and  hurting  our  trade  in  the  United 
States.  I  happened  to  be  the  only  expert  there  on  our  side  who  had 
handled  the  ores  in  the  Sierra  Mojada  range  and  in  the  cars  at  the 
smelter  as  they  arrived  from  Mexico,  and  was  able  to  give  my  testimony 
for  the  State  of  New  Mexico,  being  appointed  by  the  Governor  of  New 
Mexico  to  represent  New  Mexico  in  the  matter.  I  do  not  believe  in  over 
regulation.  Regulation  may  be  harmful  just  as  well  as  running  wild 
may  be  harmful.  Mr.  President,  if  you  want  to  regulate  the  inordinate 
desires  of  people,  why,  you  want  to  order  and  control  their  honest, 
straightforward  business  methods,  and  no  honest  man  fears  rightful  reg- 
ulation. (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  This  subject  of  business  regulation  is 
evoking  much  interest,  but  the  hour  of  twelve  has  almost  arrived,  and 
we  will  adjourn  this  meeting  now,  with  a  view  of  resuming  the  discus- 


50  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

sions  at  one  of  the  later  sessions.     A  motion  to  adjourn  this  morning  ses- 
sion is  now  in  order. 

A  motion  to  adjourn  was  thereupon  made  and  carried. 
PRESIDENT   SCHOLZ:      We   will   adjourn   and   reconvene   at    12 
o'clock. 

TUESDAY,  SEPTEMBER  21,  1915. 
Afternoon   Session. 

The  session  was  convened  at  2:30  o'clock  p.  m.  with  President 
Schblz  in  the  chair. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Gentlemen,  the  meeting  will  please  come 
to  order.  Are  there  any  resolutions  to  be  offered,  gentlemen? 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  The  Committee  on  Resolutions;  if  they 
will  be  kind  enough  to  do  so,  will  meet  in  the  room  adjoining  at  once, 
in  order  that  we  may  act  upon  the  resolutions  that  are  now  before  us. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH  (after  a  pause):  The  members  of 
the  Committee  on  Resolutions  will  kindly  assemble  in  the  adjoining 
room. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  The  next  item  on  the  program  is  the 
address  of  Mr.  Fletcher  Hamilton,  State  Mineralogist  of  California,  sub- 
ject, "California's  Water  Infiltration  Law."  Mr.  Hamilton.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Hamilton's  address  will  be  found  at  page  131  of  this  report. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  It  seems  that  there  are  many  angles  to 
the  oil  industry  that  those  of  you  who  mine  solid  metals  and  minerals 
do  not  know,  and  I  am  fully  aware  of  the  great  importance  of  the  oil 
industry  to  this  state.  The  coal  mining  people  have  felt  the  invasion 
of  their  preserves  by  the  oil  very  keenly,  and  a  number  of  customers  to 
whom  we  formerly  supplied  coal,  as  far  west  as  the  Pacific  coast,  are  now 
burning  oil.  The  filtration  of  water  is  helpful  to  our  industry  (laughter), 
because  the  more  water  you  get  the  less  oil  you  will  have,  so  it  is  an 
ill  wind  that  does  not  blow  some  one  good.  However,  for  those  who 
have  their  money  invested  in  the  oil  industry  we  want  to  get  all  there 
is  in  it,  and  we  invite  a  full  discussion  of  the  subject. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  W.  A.  Williams,  Chief  Petroleum 
Technologist  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines,  will  lead  the  -dis- 
cussion. 

MR.  WILLIAMS:  I  had  not  realized  until  now  that  I  was  on  the 
program,  but  perhaps  a  few  remarks  concerning  the  work  we  are  doing 
in  Oklahoma,  which  is  somewhat  similar  to  the  work  that  is  to  be  done 
in  California,  may  be  of  some  interest  to  the  people  here. 

About  two  years  ago  the  attention  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  was 
called  to  the  large  waste  of  gas  in  Oklahoma  as  a  result  of  current  meth- 
ods of  drilling  oil  wells.  The  dry  hole  method  of  drilling  through,  the 
formations  into  the  gas  without  fluid  in  the  hole  was  in  general  use,  and 
as  a  result,  when  the  high  pressure  gas  was  encountered  as  in  the  dish- 
ing fields,  it  was  impossible  to  drill  through  the  gas  sands  until  the  pres- 
sure had  been  reduced  by  allowing  the  wells  to  waste  millions  of  feet 
of  gas  into  the  atmosphere.  Contractors  who  had  been  very  successful 
in  the  eastern  fields  were  in  some  instances  unable  to  complete  their 
drilling  contracts  in  the  Cushing  field  owing  to  the  .difficulties  encoun- 
tered in  ^drilling  through  the  high  pressure  gas.  This  was  the  general 
condition  that  existed  in  the  dishing  field  when  the  Director  of  the 
Bureau  of  Mines  employed  Messrs.  Pollard  and  Heggem  to  investigate 
conditions  and  if  possible  recommend  a  practical  method  of  drilling 
through  high  pressure  gas  sands  that  would  conserve  the  gas  and  elimi- 
nate this  enormous  waste,  and  at  the  same  time  assure  the  completion 
of  the  wells  with  the  minimum  risk  to  both  life  and  prouerty.  The  result 
of  this  investigation  was  the  introduction  of  the  mud  fluid  method  of 
drilling. 

After  considerable  difficulty  and  ODposition.  it  was  several  times 
successfully  demonstrated  that  wells  could  be  drilled  by  the  use  of  mud 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  51 

without   wasting  gas   or   in   any   way   endangering   the   lives   of   the   men 
around  the  well. 

After  two  years  of  successful  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Bureau  of 
Mines  in  demonstrating  the  practicability  of  the  process,  the  Oklahoma 
State  Legislature,  in  January,  1915,  passed  a  bill  which  gave  the  State 
Corporation  Commission  authority  to  make  rules  and  regulations  for 
the  prevention  of  underground  waste,  not  only  of  oil  and  gas,  but  fresh 
water  as  well,  and  on  September  1st,  1915,  the  Corporation  Commission 
issued  rules  and  regulations  supporting  the  use  of  mud  fluid  in  drilling 
through  high  pressure  gas  sands. 

On  October  20,  1915,  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  approved  operat- 
ing regulations  effective  on  all  restricted  lands  in  Oklahoma,  which  es- 
sentially agree  with  the  state  regulations,  ajid  make  a  uniform  set  of 
operating  regulations  effective  on  all  oil  and  gas  lands  within  the  state. 
The  state  regulations  make  it  compulsory  upon  the  operator  to  use  the 
mud  fluid  in  certain  cases.  When  the  operator  fails  in  his  efforts  to 
correct  conditions  on  the  lands  under  the  supervision  of  the  Department 
of  the  Interior,  the  inspectors,  who  are  men  who  have  had  diversified 
practical  experience  in  various  fields  and  under  various  conditions,  will 
assist  him  in  correcting  conditions.  With  the  co-operation  of  the  oper- 
ators the  inspectors  have  been  successful  in  handling  some  very  difficult 
situations,  with  the  result  that  waste  on  Government  lands  is  being  re- 
duced to  a  minimum. 

The  September  issue  of  the  Mining  Congress  Journal  briefly  sum- 
marizes our  work  for  the  past  year,  and  if  anyone  is  sufficiently  inter- 
ested, I  would  refer  them  to  that  journal  for  additional  information. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Gentlemen,  further  discussion  on  this 
subject  is  invited. 

MR.  WILLIAMS:  I  would  suggest  that  the  Chairman  call  on  Mr. 
Pollard. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     Mr.  Pollard  is  ordered  to  the  front. 

MR.  JOHN  A.  POLLARD  (Long  Beach,  California):  Mr.  Chair- 
man, I  think  there  are  others  who  are  more  familiar  with  the  western 
country.  I  have  been  in  the  East  considerably,  and  other  engineers  are 
more  familiar  with  the  latest  conditions.  I  would  rather  hear  from  them, 
and  I  believe  they  would  do  the  meeting  more  good  than  anything  1 
could  say. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  We  will  put  them  all  in  the  trenches, 
but  you  may  favor  us  first. 

MR.  POLLARD:  If  I  cannot  get  off,  then,  I  may  say  something. 
For  many  years  past  we  have  always  known  that  the  mud  fluid  method 
of  drilling,  or  rather  the  mud  fluid  method  as  applied  to  well  drilling,  was 
one  of  the  best  pfinciples  that  we  could  use  under  some  conditions.  When 
1  first  came  to  California,  or  rather  to  the  mid-way  fields,  I  was  im- 
pressed with  the  conditions  at  once.  The  well  that  I  was  called  upon 
to  take  charge  of  first  was  in  the  Buena  Vista  hills.  This  well  had  blown 
out,  and  had  caused  the  drillers  to  abandon  the  work.  They  were  unable 
to  put  the  tools  back  in  the  well.  The  result,  was  that  I  saw  that  some 
of  the  Texas  methods  were  needed  in  the  Buena  Vista  hills,  and  at  once 
started  to  apply  the  mud  fluid  method,  with  the  result  that  we  gained 
control  of  the  well,  and  were  enabled  to  drill  it  down  to  about  twenty- 
nine  hundred  feet.  This  was  the  first  well  of  the  so'rt  in  the  State  of 
California.  I  am  pretty  familiar  with  conditions,  on  account  of  having 
worked  in  this  state  before,  and  this  was  the  first  well  of  this  sort  that 
had  been  handled  in  that  way.  The  result  was  that  it  caused  me  to  ex- 
periment and  use  this  method  on  other  wells  which  we  found  were  in 
a  worse  condition  than  this,  and  .^so  when  the  Bureau  of  Mines  called 
upon  me  to  go  to  Oklahoma,  I  at  once  endeavored  to  change  the  system 
of  drilling  from  the  dry  hole  method  to  the  application  of  the  mud  fluid 
system  to  that  portion  of  the  well  when  entering  the  gas  .formation, 
and  with  this  in  mind  we  installed  what  is  known  as  the  mud  system  as 
applied  to  dry  hole  drilling.  It  does  not  really  change  the  method  of 


52  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

drilling,  except  when  you  approach  the  oil  bearing  sands,  or  other 
troublesome  formation.  Now  this  is  particularly  good  in  connection 
with  any  infiltration  of  water  where  you  can  obtain  a  hydrostatic  pres- 
sure of  mud  fluid  on  the  water-bearing  formations.  You  are  going  to 
exclude  the  water  from  the  hole.  You  are  going  to  stop  the  water  from 
getting  up  to  the  casing,  and  hold  it  back.  Your  casing  is  protected  from 
the  water,  and  it  is  impossible  for  the  water  to  eat  the  casing.  This  will 
be  one  of  the  great  benefits  in  Oklahoma  in  the  lead  district,  but  it  is  a 
hard  thing  to  get  the  men  to  use  it.  Whenever  the  Bureau  men  come 
along  there  are  a  lot  of  people  who  think,  "That  fellow  lias  been  raised 
in  a  college,  and  what  he  knows  about  well  drilling  we  ao  not  want  to 
know."  So  the  only  way  we  could  prove  it.  to  them  was  to  go  into  our 
overalls  and  install  the  system  and  show  them  what  could  be  done, 
which  in  many  cases  we  did.  We  have  found  that  the  mud  fluid  when 
properly  applied  is  better  than  anything  else  we  know  about.  Of  course, 
where  there  is  no  solid  formation,  cement  is  necessary,  but  cement,  in 
many  cases  in  California,  is  not  needed  at  all.  The  mud  fluid  will  do 
the  work  if  properly  applied,  but  since  lots  of  men  will  use  the  cement, 
and  get  by  with  it,  and  have  success,  the  next  fellow  says  that  he  will 
do  the  same  thing.  So  they  follow  the  leader,  and  that's  the  way  a 
lot  of  the  work  is  done  in  the  oil  country  today — a  question  of  following 
the  leader.  But  I  want  to  say  there  are  lots  of  cases  in  the  mid-way 
fields  today  where  cementing  is  absolutely  unnecessary.  In  fact,  if  the 
mud  fluid  system  is  applied  the  mud  fluid  will  protect  the  upper  oil  and 
gas  sands  which  the  cement  does  not  touch,  and  preserve  them '  and 
other  adjacent  territory  from  the  waters  of  those  fields 'in  which  we  are 
now  drilling.  I  have  seen  that  same  thing  happen  in  other  fields  where 
the  mud  fluid  system  has  been  applied  and  it  has  helped  the  formations 
four  or  five  miles  distant  from  where  the  operations  were  going  on.  So 
I  believe,  where  the  mud  fluid  system  can  be  used,  it  should  be  applied. 
We  do  not  apply  it  here  as  we  do  in  Oklahoma.  We  attempt  to  do  it,  but 
do  not  carry  it  out.  The  boys  have  not  got  the  real  idea  of  the  mud 
fluid  system,  and  the  result  is  they  trust  too  much  to  clear  water,  and 
the  clear  water  will  not  do  the  business,  and  until  they  use  that  method 
in  California  they  are  not  going  to  protect  the  upper  sands  where  they 
have  three  or  four  sands  in  one  well. 

A  DELEGATE:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  like  to  have  the  gentle- 
man proceed  further.  This  is  a  delightfully  new  phase  of  an  important 
new  subject.  If  he  would  favor  us  with  a  description  of  what  the  method 
is,  I  am  sure  it  would  prove  of  value. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  I  was  just  about  to  confess  that  this 
"slinging  mud"  business  is  a  new  thing  to  me  in  every  sense  of  the 
word,  and  I  know  a  lot  of  you  gentlemen,  like  myself,  would  like  to 
know  what  it  is,  and  to  be  told  by  one  who  does  know  just  how  it  is 
applied,  because  we  may  strike  oil  some  day. 

MR.  POLLARD:  Gentlemen,  there  are  many  conditions  that  this 
mud  fluid  system  is  good  for.  It  is  particularly  good  in  the  coal  country, 
one  of  the  best  things  I  ever  knew.  I  was  in  Pennsylvania,  and  gave 
them  a  talk  on  the  use  of  it  in  coal  mining,  and  it  is  one  of  the  things 
that  will  bring  about  a  unison  of  coal  and  oil  and  gas  operators  in  those 
states  where  coal  is  found.  Today  one  class  of  operators  uses  one  meth- 
od, and  another  does  another  way,  but  with~the  use  of  this  mud  fluid 
method,  we  are  going  to  get  a  union  between  the  coal  and  oil  and  gas 
operators  that  they  never  had  before,  for  the  reason  that  we  can  protect 
a  coal  mine  with  the  use  of  the  mud  fluid  like  nothing  else  will  do.  The 
idea  now  is  to  allow  the  gas  to  come  from  its  formation  possibly  eighteen 
hundred  or  two  thousand  feet,  and  th«  engineers  are  attempting  to  pro- 
tect the  coal  mine  eighteen  or  twenty  feet  below  the  floor  of  the  mine. 
Now,  if  the  gas  is  corralled  at  the  mouth  of  the  well  we  have  produced 
a  pressure  20  feet  below  the  floor  of  the  mine  which  should  be  kept  in  the 
strata  in  which  the  gas  is  found.  The  result  is  the  formation  is  not 
sufficiently  good  to  hold  it,  and  we  have  gas  escaping  into  the  coat  mine. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  53 

If  the  mud  fluid  had  been  put  in  behind  the  casing  and  kept  the  gas  in 
the  formation  in  which  it  was  found  until  it  was  wanted,  and  brought 
up  between  two  strings  of  casing,  then  the  coal  mine  would  have  been 
safe.  Now,  I  have  made  those  remarks  because  I  understand  the  Chair- 
man is  a  coal  man. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  The  question  remains  unanswered,  how- 
ever. 

MR.  POLLARD:  I  am  just  coming  to  your  point.  Now,  in  re- 
gard to  the  mud  fluid  method  in  oil  or  gas  well  drilling,  we  use  it  in 
various  ways.  We  make  a  solution  of  mud  fluid,  carrying  a  consistency 
of  twenty  to  forty  per  cent  in  weight,  according  to  the  work  we  are  do- 
ing. We  drill  with  this  fluid  in  the  hole  and  thereby  exclude  all  gas  or 
water  pressures  from  the  bore  hole,  as  we  are  going  down,  due  to  the 
hydrostatic  head  of  this  tremendous  column  of  mud  fluid  on  the  forma- 
tion. This  mud  fluid  is  of  so  much  greater  density  than  the  water  itself 
that  it  pushes  the  water  out  of  the  way  and  fills  up  the  pores  of  the  for- 
mation. That's  the  system. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     The  question  is,  what  is  this  mud  fluid? 

MR.  POLLARD:  This  mud -fluid  is  composed  of  a  mixture  of  clay 
with  water,  making  it  any  density  you  want  along  up  to  about  forty  per 
cent  solid,  which  is  about  as  heavy  as  we  have  any  need  to  carry  it,  and 
the  pumps  will  handle  it  at  that  density  very  nicely.  (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  If  you  will  pardon  me,  I  will  interject  a 
few  remarks  on  this  very  important  subject  as  applied  to  the  shaft  sunk. 
While  in  France  some  four  years  ago,  I  visited  the  largest  coal  mining- 
district  in  the  North  of  France.  Coal  is  found  at  a  depth  of  two  to  three 
thousand  feet  underlying  a  very  porous  formation,  and  in  that  district  the 
freezing  process  of  shaft  sinking  was  first  developed,  but  they  found  it 
very  costly,  because  once  the  frost  came  out  of  the  ground  it  required 
very  strong  linings,  usually  made  of  cast  iron,  to  hold  the  soft  stratum 
in  place.  An  engineer,  whose  name  I  have  forgotten,  was  the  inventor  of 
a  process  which  reminded  me  very  much  of  the  mud  process.  He  sank 
a  drill  hole  below  the  measures  which  contained  the  water,  and  without 
a  casing,  because  the  rocks  stand  very  well,  and  put  a  pipe  almost  to  the 
bottom  which  had  a  self-locking  valve.  Cement  was  poured  in  this  pipe 
from  the  surface,  or  a  mixture  of  cement  liquid,  which  penetrated  the 
fissures  of  this  stratum  for  quite  a  distance  back.  By  computing  the 
quantities  which  were  poured  into  the  hole  they  were  able  to  determine 
how  far  the  cement  work  had  opened  the  shaft.  The  French  line  of 
those  shafts  is  about  twenty-four  feet.  They  are  quite  large,  according 
to  our  way  of  looking  at  it,  and  I  was  told  that  they  have*been  able  to 
determine  within  six  inches  how  far  the  cement  ran  out  from  the  center 
drill  hole.  Gradually  the  pipes  with  the  self-locking  glands  were  with- 
drawn, and  increased  pressure  was  applied  at  the  bottom  of  the  shaft. 
The  hydrostatic  pressure  was  sufficient  to  reach  out  far  enough,  and  as 
the  pipe  was  withdrawn  closer  to  the  surface,  artificial  pressure  had  to 
be  applied.  The  result  was,  when  the  surface  was  finally  reached,  a  col- 
umn of  rocks  cemented  together  perfectly  dry;  in  fact,  it  was  a  cement 
column  in  the  center  of  which  the  shaft  was  afterwards  sunk.  It  occurs 
to  me  that  the  method  which  Mr.  Pollard  has  just  described  is  quite 
parallel  to  this  shaft-sinking  process,  and  the  advantage  of  it,  as  com- 
pared with  freezing,  is  that  it  costs  about  one-fourth  and  requires  no 
lining,  because  the  cement  in  the  surrounding  wells  was  self-sustaining. 
Therefore,  you  are  able  to  sink  a  perfectly  dry  shaft,  but  you  furnish 
lining  as  well,  your  rock  remaining  in  place  with  the  comparatively  small 
addition  of  the  cement  required  to  fill  the  crevices.  We  would  be  glad 
to  hear  some  further  discussion  of  this  subject. 

MR.  WRIGHT:  Mr.  President,  I  do  not  rise  to  make  a  speech  ex- 
cept to  say  that  I  think  this  Congress  will  lose  a  great  deal  by  not  hear- 
ing from  Mr.  Arthur  F.  L.  Bell,  the  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Associated 
Oil  Company,  on  this  subject.  There  is  no  man  here  any  better  in- 
formed than  he  is.  (Applause.) 


54  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS    • 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     Mr.  Bell  will  now  have  the  floor. 

MR.  BELL:  The  question  I  would  like  to  ask  Mr.  Hamilton  about 
is  in  regard  to  the  four  deputies  that  are  to  be  appointed  for  the  various 
fields,  it  seems  to  me  that  this  is  an  enormous  task  to  expect  four  men 
to  carry  on  successfully.  I  would  like  to  ask  whether  it  is  the  intention 
to  give  these  men  assistants.  As  field  manager  and  at  present  chief  en- 
gineer of  the  Associated  Oil  Company,  I  know  what  that  task  entails, 
as  I  have  been  in  charge  of  similar  work. 

I  am  afraid  that  one  of  the  greatest  causes  for  criticism  against 
this  undertaking  is  going  to  arise  from  the  delays  and  expenses  incurred 
by  the  operators,  due  to  the  Bureau  not  having  the  proper  amount  of 
help  to  carry  on  this  work  "of  supervision  with  dispatch;  as  the  work 
that  is  necessary  to  be  performed  to  supervise  intelligently  the  state's 
drilling  operations  necessitates  so  much  detail,  such  as  the  compiling 
of  the  well  logs,  recording  the  water  cuts,  the  personal  inspection  of  all 
wells  and  the  study  of  many  other  details,  which  will  require  a  large 
staff  of  assistants. 

The  Associated  Oil  Company  and  the  representatives  of  all  the 
other  companies  with  whom  I  have  spoken  on  the  subject,  intend  to  do 
everything  within  their  power  to  make  this  law  a  success,  and  I  make 
this  statement  simply  in  the  form  of  a  suggestion  and  not  a  criticism. 
I  would,  therefore,  like  to  hear  from  Mr.  Hamilton  in  regard  to  how>  he 
intends  to  carry  on  this  work. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Will  Mr.  Hamilton  kindly  respond  to 
Mr.  Wright? 

MR.  HAMILTON:  I  appreciate  Mr.  Bell's  statement  entirely,  and 
in  answer  to  his  query,  I  will  say  that  the  Bureau  is  limited  to  the  amount 
of  funds  which  it  has  to  expend  this  year.  The  funds  which  will  be  at 
our  disposal  after  the  first  assessment  is  made  will  be  much  more  ample 
than  they  are  now.  At  the  present  time,  we  are  operating  under  an  ad- 
vance from  the  State  Treasurer  of  twenty  thousand  dollars,  and  with 
that  we  hope  to  get  the  organization  in  shape,  and  know  just  exactly 
what  our  problems  are  going  to  be,  and  when  that  is  known  the  expense 
will  be  taken  care  of  by  the  assessments  which  will  be  levied  for  the 
care  of  the  department.  I  will  say  this,  that  even  at  the  present  time 
I  am  considering  putting  in  an  assistant  outside  of  the  funds  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  oil  department,  who  will  be  at  work  probably  in  the  field 
itself,  doing  special  work.  I  realize,  the  same  as  Mr.  Bell,  that  there  is 
an  enormous  amount  of  work  to  be  done,  and  the  growth  of  the  work 
will  require  more  men  at  the  disposal  of  the  oil  men.  We  have  gone  into 
this  work  with  the  expectation  that  we  are  going  to  have  the  co-operation 
of  the  oil  me*n,  and  it  is  entirely  their  law.  The  department  which  has 
been  created  is  a  department  for  the  benefit  of  the  oil  industry,  and 
that  which  is  of  interest  to  them  is  of  interest  to  us.  We  will  always 
be  only  too  anxious  to  go  as  far  as  possible  to  meet  every  demand.  For- 
tunately, there  is  not  a  great  deal  of  new  work  going  on  in  the  fields  in 
the  way  of  drilling,  but  if  the  work  increases  under  the  new  development, 
we  will  have  to  increase  the  force  to  take  care  of  the  work.  There  is 
no  doubt  about  that. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Are  there  any  other  gentlemen  here  who 
wish  to  discuss  the  oil  question? 

MR.  BELL:  There  is  another  question  which  has  just  come  to  my 
mind  in  the  matter  of  assessments:  Are  the  assessments  to  be  levied 
on  unpatented  land  which  we  do  not  know  whether  the  government  will 
take  away  from  us?  (Laughter.) 

MR.  HAMILTON:  Well,  I  will  say  in  answer  to  that,  Mr.  Btll, 
that  will  be  a  question  which  will  have  to  come  up  and  be  threshed  out 
at  the  time  the  assessments  are  made.  The  bill  provides  that  the  states 
shall  levy  an  assessment  after  the  first  of  March,  and  then  we  will  sit 
as  a  board  of  equalization  in  the  City  of  Sacramento,  at  which  time  the 
owner  of  the  land  or  the  producer  of  the  oil  in  the  wells  has  a  right  to 
come  up  and  give  his  point  of  view,  state  his  case,  and  if  it  seems  just 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  55 

that  he  shall  not  be  assessed,  the  assessment  will  be  cut  out,  or  if  he 
comes  up  and  says  he  thinks  he  should  be  assessed  more,  we  will  look 
at  it  that  way. 

A  DELEGATE:  We  will  have  him  in  jail  if  he  does  that!  (Laugh- 
ter.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Are  there  any  more  questions  which 
anyone  wishes  to  ask  Mr.  Hamilton?  He  seems  to  be  a  bureau  of  in- 
formation. • 

MR.  BELL:  I  would  like  to  suggest  that  Mr.  John  M.  Wright, 
who  has  been  associated  with  the  oil  business  from  the  time  the  great 
California  oil  development  started  at  Kern  River  in  1899,  is  here,  and  I 
am  sure  we  would  all  like  to  hear  from  him. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  We  would  be  delighted  indeed  to  hear 
from  Mr.  Wright.  Mr.  Wright  happens  to  be  an  old  life  member  of  the 
American  Mining  Congress,  and  is  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  of  the 
floor.  We  will  hear  from  him  now.  (Applause.) 

MR.  JOHN  M.  WRIGHT  (San  Francisco):  Mr.  President,  it  has 
seemed  to  me,  in  listening  to  the  oil  discussion,  more  than  probable  that 
mining  men  in  general  know  little  or  nothing  about  the  ^  formations  we 
oil  men  talk  about.  I  have  not  heard  the  word  "anticline"  nor  the  word 
"syhcline"  nor  the  word  "monocline"  today.  These  are  the  most  familiar 
terms  used  by  oil  men,  as  they  are  the  most  important.  Quartz  miners 
may  not  be  aware  that  an  oil  mine  is  very  much  like  a  quartz  mine; 
and  to  digress  for  just  a  moment,  Mr.  Edward  L.  Doheney  and  Mr. 
Charles  A.  Canfield,  the  most  successful  among  California  oil  men,  were 
quartz  miners  in  New  Mexico  before  they  became  oil  men  in  California, 
and  it  was  their  knowledge  of  quartz  mining  formations  that  made  them 
successful  in  their  early  selections  of  oil  lands;  and  if  I  may  speak  of  my- 
self, my  selection  of  a  piece  of  oil  land  that  has  now  some  reputation, 
the  Peerless  oil  property,  was  made  solely  upon  my  study  of  the  forma- 
tion of  the  district.  I  refer  to  the  simple  question  as  to  whether  there 
had  been  any  break  in  the  formation  between  the  oil  wells  that  had  then 
already  been  discovered,  and  the  land  I  wished  to  purchase.  So  you  can 
see  that  your  education  as  quartz  miners  is  of  the  utmost  value  to  you,  if 
you  desire  to  become  oil  men. 

An  anticline  is  like  this   (indicating  with  hands). 

In  this  case  the  oil  formation  comes  up  from  both  sides,  joining 
at  the  top,  and  the  two  sides  are  more  or  less  alike. 

A  monocline  is  where  you  find  the  oil  formation  coming  up  only 
on  one  side,  frequently  revealing  the  oil  itself  at  the  surface.  It  is  like 
this  (indicating  with  one  hand). 

A  syncline  is  the  low  ground  between  two  monoclines,  or  between 
a  monocline  and  one  side  of  an  anticline,  or  between  the  adjoining  sides 
of  two  anticlines.  It  is  like  this  (indicating  with  hands). 

Now  with  this  understanding,  you  may  know  what  the  oil  man 
must  look  for  when  he  goes  out  prospecting.  If  he  finds  the  apex — 
because  these  oil  mines  have  their  apices  and  their  boundaries  precisely 
as  quartz  mines  do — if  he  finds  the  apex  of  an  oil  formation,  he  does  not 
sink  right  there,  especially  if  it  is  the  apex  of  a  monocline,  but  he  goes 
out  on  the  formation  and  sinks  his  well.  He  may  go  out  on  the  forma- 
tion a  thousand  feet  from  the  apex,  he  mav  go  two  thousand  feet,  or 
three  thousand  feet,  as  he  may  decide,  and  he  siitks  down  hoping  he 
will  get  oil.  Sometimes  he  does,  and  sometimes  he  does  not.  Probably 
the  times  when  he  does  not  succeed  are  much  greater  in  number  than 
wh«n  he  does  succeed. 

Now,  what  I  want  to  get  at  as  quickly  as  possible  is  this.  Some- 
where in  these  formations,  at  some  depth,  the  oil  man  finds  water,  and  I  do 
not  know  any  oil  operator  that  does  not  u«*e  his  utmost  endeavor  to  keep 
the  water  out  of  his  oil  strata.  It  is  his  great  task,  after  finding  an 
oil  stratum,  to  keep  out  or  shut  off  the  water.  As  you  know,  the  forma- 


56  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

tion  in  which  the  oil  occurs,  is  a  stratum  of  sand  or  of  sandy  shale,  and 
so,  where  the  valuable  content  in  a  gold  mine  is  fixed,  in  an  oil  formation 
it  is  fluctuating,  it  is  movable. 

An  oil  mine  is  a  good  deal  like  an  ordinary  artesian  well.  The 
water  is  found  enclosed  between  two  strata  impervious  to  water.  You 
go  out  on  a  dipping  formation  overlying  w«U;er  and  sink  a  hole  down 
through  a  stratum  impervious  to  water,  and  the  \vater  comes  up  because 
its  head  is  higher  than  the  top  of  the  well  you  sink.  And  a  flowing  oil 
well  is  very  much  like  that. 

But  let's  go  back.  You  cannot  avoid  finding  water  in  your  oil  well, 
and  I  think  I  am  warranted  in  saying  that  you  cannot  prevent  some  of 
that  water  getting  into  your  well  and  permeating  your  oil  sands. 

In  the  Kern  River  district  we  have  strata  aggregating  more  than 
six  hundred  feet  in  thickness,  with  alternating  clays  and  oil  sands  and 
water  sands.  You  will  find  a  stratum  of  clay  overlying  a  stratum  of 
water  sand  and  then  another  stratum  of  clay.  Then  you  may  find  a 
stratum  of  oil  sand,  then  another  stratum  of  clay,  then  another  of  oil 
sand,  and  so  on.  Somewhere  down  below,  there  is  another  stratum  of 
water  sand.  Now,  in  spite  of  all  the  mechanical  ingenuity  that  can  be 
exercised,  the  water  will  find  its  way  from  the  upper  water  sand  down 
into  the  oil  sands  below  or  from  the  lower  water  sand  up  into  the  oil 
sands  above. 

I  do  not  understand  Mr.  Hamilton  to  imply  that  the  average  oil 
man  is  doing  anything  wrong  by  letting  the  water  into  his  oil  sands, 
for  he  knows  it  cannot  be  prevented  from  getting  in.  It  is  the  great 
problem  we  all  have  to  encounter,  and  it  is  only  the  exceptional  man 
who  does  not  exercise  proper  precautions,  and  the  principal  work  of 
Mr.  Hamilton's  deputies,  who  have  to  go  out  into  the  different  oil  fields 
and  take  care  of  this  matter,  is  to  look  after  the  careless  man  and  his 
carelessly  handled  wells,  which  are  very  few  in  number. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  every  superintendent  and  every  driller  in 
the  Kern  River  field  will  assist  Mr.  Hamilton's  deputy  in  his  effort  to 
shut  the  water  out  of  the  oil  wells,  and  to  prevent  the  further  encroach- 
ment of  water  into  the  oil  formations. 

On  the  property  of  the  Peerless  Company  and  on  the  property 
immediately  south  of  that,  I  know  that  every  well  was  drilled  with  all 
the  ability  and  all  the  knowledge  that  is  today  available  among  oil  men. 
We  have  selected  our  superintendents  and  our  drillers  with  the  utmost 
care,  and  if  they  did  not  understand  their  business,  somebody  else  would 
be  selected.  There  are  over  sixty  wells  on  the  Peerless  property.  Mr. 
Bell,  as  supervising  engineer  for  the  Associated  Company,  controls  sev- 
eral hundreds  in  the  same  district.  And  there  are  perhaps  sixty  or 
seventy  to  the  south  of  the  Peerless.  Now  the  water  got  in  there,  al- 
though every  one  of  those  wells  was  sunk  carefully  and  every  one  of 
them  was  watched  carefully.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  watching  every  ten 
feet  or  every  one  foot  or  even  every  inch,  it  is  every  smallest  fraction  of 
an  inch  that  must  be  and  is  watched.  Every  moment  of  time,,  day  and 
night,  the  subject  is  before  the  superintendents  and  the  drillers,  and 
everything  possible  is  done,  as  I  have  said,  to  keep  the  water  out.  But 
now  that  it  has  got  in  every  oil  man  will  help  Mr.  Hamilton  and  his 
deputies  to  the  utmost  in  getting  it  out. 

I  wish  to  speak  of  one  particular  point  referred  to  by  Mr.  Hamil- 
ton. He  said  that  one  of  the  greatest  uses  of  the  machinery  of  his 
office  was  to  cause  a  uniform  method  to  be  employed  in  the  different 
fields  throughout  the  state.  That  cannot  be  done.  No  two  fields  are 
alike.  That  is,  the  underground  conditions  are  not  alike  in  any  two 
fields.  The  method  to  be  employed  in  the  Kern  River  field 
must  be  different  from  that  to  lie  applied  in  the  Midway  field  or  in  the 
Coalinga  field  or  any  other  field  in  the  state,  because  the  formation  is 
different,  with  the  strata  lying  at  different  angles,  in  some  cases  almost 
entirely  flat,  and  in  others  at  a  very  large  angle. 

Now,   I   will  tell  you   something  about  what  we   have   done   in   the 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  57 

Kern  River  field  in  preventing  an  increase  of  the  water  and  the  drowning 
out  of  our  wells,  and  it  came  about  accidentally. 

One  day  in  conversation  with  a  prominent  oil  superintendent,  I 
mentioned  that  the  Peerless  plant  was  using  eight  water  wells  in  getting 
domestic  and  steam  water,  and  that  their  cost  was  five  hundred  dollars 
per  month,  and  that  I  thought-  one  well  ought  to  do  the  work.  He  an- 
swered, "When  you  get  to  Coalinga,  go  into  McQuigg's  boiler-house  and 
look  at  the  work  of  his  air  compressor."  I  did  so  and  found  a  small 
compressor  furnishing  all  the  water  needed  by  McQuigg's  plant.  The 
next  time  I  saw  Mr.  Angus  J.  Crites,  the  Peerless  superintendent,  1 
said,  "I  want  you  to  go  to  Los  Angeles  to  look  up  air  compressors  for 
handling  water."  He  went  to  Los  Angeles,  and  there  made  a  careful  in- 
vestigation, and  on  his  return  he  said:  "You  have  to  show  me,  but  1 
am  willing  to  try  it."  So  we  got  an  air  compressor  and  he  went  to  work. 
My  idea  was  to  pump  only  domestic  and  steam  water.  But  he  reasoned 
that  if  compressed  air  would  lift  water  it  would  lift  oil  with  it,  and  so 
he  began  'his  operations  at  an  oil  well  that  had  been  drowned  out  with 
water.  I  went  to  the  field  shortlv  afterward  and  I  said,  ''What's  -that 
brown  stuff  on  top  of  that  water?"  Crites  said,  "Why,  that's  oil,  and 
mighty  good  oil  at  that."  He  was  getting  a  thousand  barrels  of  water 
and  three  hundred  barrels  of  oil  out  of  a  well  that  had  been  producing 
only  twenty  barrels  of  oil  per  day. 

Of  course  the  oil  men  came  from  all  parts  of  the  state  to  see  the 
thing  in  operation,  and  the  result  has  been  a  gigantic  system  of  air 
compressors  all  over  the  different  fields.  And  by  that  means,  in  the 
southwest  portion  of  the  Kern  River  field  we  are  keeping  the  water 
down  to  a  level  where  it  does  but  little  harm.  The  Associated  Company 
has  four  compressors,  each  of  which  furnishes  two  thousand  cubic  feet 
of  air  per  minute  under  a  pressure  of  two  hundred  pounds.  Our  own 
compressors  furnish  an  aggregate  of  four  thousand  cubic  feet  per  minute, 
the  Monte  Cristo  has  a  similar  plant  and  other  companies  in  proportion. 
And  that  is  the  means  by  which  we  have  prevented  the  Kern  River  field 
from  being  drowned  out.  as  it  would  have  been  save  for  the  mechanical 
ingenuity  of  Angus  J.  Crites. 

The  compressors,  howrever,  do  not  solve  the  questions  Mr.  Hamilton 
has  before  him,  how  to  keep  the  water  out  of  the  oil  formations,  and  how 
to  get  the  water  out  of  the  wells  after  it  gets  into  them,  and  that  is 
where  we  are  all  asking  for  light.  (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Is  there  further  discussion?  If  not  we 
will  proceed  with  the  next  subject,  "The  Right  of  Appeal  from  De- 
cisions of  the  Interior  Department  in  Cases  Where  the  Government  Is 
Charged  with  an  Interest,"  by  Mr.  H.  H.  Schwartz,  of  Portland,  Oregon. 
Is  Mr.  Schwartz  in  the  room?  (After  a  pause)  Mr.  Schwartz  is  evi- 
dently not  here,  and  his  paner  has  not  been  sent  in.  We  will  have  to 
proceed  to  the  discussion  of  the  "State  versus  Federal  Leasing  of  Natural 
Resources  Where  Government  Control  Is  Essential  to  Public  Welfare." 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Chairman,  the  general  sub- 
ject which  is  embodied  in  these  two  questions  is  one  of  very  great  im- 
portance and  I  regret  very  much  that  Mr.  Schwartz  is  not  here.  This 
subject  is  so  vital  to  the  West  that  we  ought  to  discuss  it  fully,  and  un- 
derstand it.  We  ought  to  organize  to  prevent  the  adoption  of  laws 
vvhich  will  interfere  with  western  development,  and  I  want  for  just  one 
moment  to  call  attention  to  the  possible  burden  which  might  come  upon 
the  Western  states.  According  to"the  estimates  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey,  -there  are  one  trillion,  nine  hundred  and  six  billion, 
one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  million,  two  hundred  thousand  tons  of 
coal  in  these  Western  states.  If  we  assume  that  twenty-five  per  cent  of 
that  coal  is  available  for  production  that  ten  per  cent  of  the  available 
supply  shall  be  mined  during  the  next  one  hundred  years,  and  that  it 
pays  a  royalty  of  two  cents  per  ton  upon  that  amount,  which  is  the  low- 
est royalty  mentioned  in  any  of  the  leasing  bills  considered  by  Congress 
— this  would  amount  to  a  tax  upon  these  Western  states  of  more  than 


58  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

twenty  million  dollars  each  year.  If  we,  in  these  growing  Western 
states,  are  to  be  expected  to  face  a  tax  of  that  kind  upon  our  resources, 
while  the  cities  of  Boston  and  New  York,  and  our  great  Atlantic  sea- 
board, have  the  benelit  of  their  great  harbor  advantages  which  we  can- 
not enjoy,  without  any  tax  by  the  Federal  government,  we  feel  that  a 
burden  will  be  put  on  the  development  of  the  West,  which  will  be  un- 
warrantable. Of  course,  I  realize  those  figures  are  exorbitant,  and  will 
not  ever  be  imposed,  but  whether  large  or  small,  the  tax  to  be  imposed 
on  these  states,  which  is  a  tax  not  imposed  on  other  states,  is  an  injus- 
tice to  the  West.  (Applause.) 

As  was  pointed  out  in  the  official  call  for  this  Convention,  in  the 
State  of  Wyoming  alone — applying  these  same  figures  to  the  little  State 
of  Wyoming — twenty-five  per  cent  available  and  ten  per  cent  of  the 
available  coal  mined  in  the  next  one  hundred  years,  each  year  the  state 
would  be  called  on  to  pay  eight  million  dollars  to  the  Federal  govern- 
ment in  a  tax  upon  its  resources,  which  the  States  of  Illinois,  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Indiana  are  not  called  on  to  pay,  and  whether  eight  million 
dollars  or  eight  million  cents  or  eight  cents,  in  principle  it  puts  a  tax 
on  Western  states  which  is  not  put  on  other  stateSj  and  it  is  an  injustice 
which  we  ought  to  resent  and  fight  to  the  last  resort. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  like  to  talk  on  this  thing  for  a  month 
(laughter),  but  I  am  not  going  to  do  it.  We  have  in  this  room  a  gentle- 
man who  was  asked  to  take  a  place  on  this  program  because  of  his 
knowledge  of  Western  conditions,  and  the  application  of  these  principles, 
and  I  feel  we  ought  to  ask  him  to  withdraw  his  modest  declination  and 
speak.  I  refer  to  Judge  Richards,  of  Idaho,  who  was  for  seven  years 
President  of  this  organization,  piloting  it  across  stormy  seas,  and  I 
ask,  Mr.  Rresident,  that  he  be  requested  to  discuss  this  subject  without 
the  limit  of  the  five-minute  rule  which  was  fixed.  (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Judge  Richards,  will  you  please  take 
the  platform  and  favor  us  with  an  address? 

JUDGE  RICHARDS  (taking  his  position  at  the  front  of  the  room, 
rather  than  on  the  platform):  May  I  just  meet  the  eyes  of  my  audience  on 
the  level? 

PRESIDENT   SCHOLZ:     All    right. 

Judge  Richards'  address  will  be  found  at  page  135  of  the  report. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  Eldridge's  name  was  mentioned  as  a 
gentleman  who  could  enlighten  us.  We  would  be  very  glad  to  hear  from 
him  now. 

MR.  J.  B.  ELDRIDGE  (Boise,  Idaho):  Mr.  President  and  gentle- 
men of  the  Convention:  I  have  borrowed  Mr.  Bell's  cane.  Mr.  Bell  has 
been  so  long  pointing  us  to  the  paths  of  truth  and  rectitude  that  I 
thought  his  cane  would  be  helpful  in  pointing  out  what  I  wish  to  illus- 
trate by  this  map.  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  this  map  of  the  best 
state  of  all  the  states — Idaho,  where  I  live. 

Thirty-one  and  eighty-six  hundredths  per  cent  of  the  lands  of  Idaho 
are  either  taxable  or  they  will  possibly  become  taxable  lands.  A  great  deal 
of  that  area  belongs  to  the  state.  The  state  proposes  to  sell  up  the  land.  Re- 
ferring to  the  map  here,  we  find  thirty-three  and  twenty-one  hundredths 
per  cent  of  the  State  of  Idaho  are  in  forest  preserves.  We  find  thirty  and  six- 
ty-four one  hundredths  per  cent  represented  by  lands  that  are  owned  by  the 
government,  and  not  in  forest  preserves.  Forty-eight  one-hundredths  of 
one  per  cent  of  the  lands  of  Idaho  have  been  withdrawn  for  power  sites 
by  the  government.  Under  the  Carey  act  fifty-seven  one-hundredths  per 
cent  have  been  withdrawn  and  one  and  forty-four  one-hundredths  per 
cent  represents  Indian  reservations.  It  will  be  observed  here  that  Idaho 
only  taxes,  and  it's  only  possible  for  Idaho  to  tax,  this  little. white  area 
(indicating);  so  it  is  with  Colorado,  Wyoming,  Montana,  Washington, 
Oregon,  California,  Nevada,  Arizona,  and  New  Mexico. 

I  want  to  support  what  Judge  Richards  said,  that  law  should  be 
respected,  that  we  should  live  under  it.  When  Idaho  knocked  at  the 
door  of  Congress,  and  asked  for  admission  in  1890,  it  did  so  because  it 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  59 

wanted  to  become  one  of  the  great  states  of  the  Union.  Congress  ad- 
mitted us  into  the  Union  upon  an  equal  footing,  and  upon  like  condi- 
tions, as  all  the  original  states  heretofore  admitted.  Idaho  accepted  that 
as  a  binding  valid  contract.  We  people  of  Idaho  dreamed  dreams  of  the 
day  when  the  muddy  waters  of  the  Snake  River  and  other  great  streams 
of  Idaho,  too  numerous  to  mention,  would  be  harnessed,  and  when  we 
could  compete  with  the  great  State  of  Pennsylvania;  when  we  might  in- 
stitute and  encourage  manufacturing  establishments  in  Idaho  that  would 
equal  any  state  in  the  Union.  We. had  a  right,  gentlemen,  to  rely  upon 
that  contract,  and  to  look  forward  to  the  time  that  we  would  be  able  to 
establish  in  Idaho  some  of  the  greatest  factories  of  this  Union,  because 
of  our  cheap  power.  In  a  few  years  Congress — in  violation  of  that  con- 
tract— passed  laws  that  enabled  the  President  of  the  United  States  to 
withdraw  all  of  this  territory,  or  a  large  part  of  it,  under  the  power  of 
withdrawals.  Then  came  the  reservations,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
billions  of  timber — of  standing  timber  in  Idaho,  nearly  all  of  which  is  tied 
up  in  forest  reserves.  We  fondly  love  to  refer  to  our  mine  inspector,  the 
daddy  of  all  mine  inspectors — Robert  M.  Bell — as  "Phosphate  Bob."  Idaho 
contains  already  withdrawn  ten  billions  of  tons  of  phosplate — all  there  is  in 
this  country,  and  nearly  all  that  there  is  in  the  world.  It's  wrong  morally 
and  legally  for  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  deprive  Idaho  and 
the  other  Western  states  of  our  natural  resources,  as  was  so  clearly  put 
before  you  by  Judge  Richards.  Why  shouldn't  we  have  the  right  to  that 
which  all  the  rest  of  the  Union  enjoyed?  Why  shouldn't  we  have  a  right 
to  stand  pat  upon  our  contract  with  the  Congress  of  the  United  States? 

I  want  to  see  this  resolution  passed  unanimously,  if  possible,  and 
let  -it  be  passed  with  a  ring,  that  it  may  possibly  reach  the  ears  of  our 
Eastern  brethren,  who  have  enjoyed  to  the  fullest  extent  the  natural 
resources  of  their  country,  and  developed  them.  We  do  not  want  to  be 
taxed  and  hampered  so  that  we  cannot  compete  with  the  East.  We  have 
to  send  back  to  the  East  for  all  our  manufacturing  products — and  in  that 
connection,  gentlemen,  I  want  to  say  this,  insofar  as  Idaho  is  con- 
cerned, we  have  more  farm  land  today  under  water  than  we  can  possibly 
market  the  products  of.  We  want  local  development;  we  want  to  de- 
velop our  mines  and  pur  resources,  so  that  a  farmer  can  sell  the  stuff 
that  he  raises  on  his  irrigated  land.  We  are  from  five  hundred  to  two 
thousand  miles  from  market,  and  produce  is  rotting  in  our  fields  in  Idaho 
today,  because  there  is  nobody  to  buy  it.  And  yet  they  say  they  will 
take  half  the  proceeds  for  taxes  under  the  Ferris  Bill  and  devote  it  to  the 
Reclamation  fund.  What  we  want  is  to  develop  our  own  resources,  and 
provide  a  market  for  the  agricultural  products  we  now  have,  and  put  in 
such  other  lands  from  time  to  time  as  there  is  a  demand  for  our  prod- 
ucts. I  thank  you,  gentlemen.  (Applause.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Before  calling  for  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Resolutions,  I  want  to  announce  the  Members'  Meeting,  which 
will  be  held  in  Parlor  C  on  the  first  floor  of  the  Palace  Hotel  at  8  o'clock 
tonight.  I  want  to  impress  upon  every  member  present  the  necessity  of 
attending  this  meeting,  because  a  number  of  important  matters  are  com- 
ing up  upon  which  the  members  must  act. 

I  want  to  call  attention  to  the  distinction  between  the  "members" 
and  the  "delegates."  The  meetings  we  have  been  having  have  been  open 
to  all  delegates;  the  meeting  tonight  will  be  particularly  for  the  "mem- 
bers." 

Have  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  anything  to  report? 

JUDGE  RICHARDS,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions: 
We  have  nothing  to  report  tonight,  but  in  the  morning  will  be  ready 
with  our  report. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     If  there  is  no  further  business— 

A  DELEGATE:     I  move  we  adjourn. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  We  will  adjourn  until  10  o'clock  tomor- 
row morning. 

Whereupon  the  session  was  adjourned  at  4:55  o'clock  p.  m. 


60  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

WEDNESDAY,  SEPTEMBER  22,  1915. 
Morning  Session. 

The  morning  session  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  was  con- 
vened at  10:30  o'clock,  with  President  Scholz  presiding. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Gentlemen,  please  come  to  order.  Are 
there  any  resolutions  to  be  offered  tbis  morning?  If  so,  we  would  be 
glad  to  have  them. 

MR.  F.  L.  SIZER:  Mr.  President,  I  may  be  out  of  order,  but  this 
is  my  only  opportunity  today.  I  am  very  anxious  to  see  something  done 
and  I  would  like  to  know  if  there  has  been  any  committee  appointed,  or 
is  to  be  appointed  for  joint  conference  with  the  American  Institute  in 
the  matter  of  revision  of  the  mining  laws  of  the  United  States. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Yes,  there  is  such  a  committee  in  exis- 
tence. 

MR.  SIZER:     Is  there  any  certainty  that  it  will  report? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  We  have  had  a  committee  for 
years,  and  this  committee  brought  about  the  passage  by  the  U.  S.  Senate 
of  a  bill  providing  for  a  commission  to  revise  the  mineral  land  laws, 
and  almost  secured  its  passage  by  the  House  of  Representatives. 

MR.  SIZER:  I  want  to  say  a  number  of  prominent  members  of 
the  American  Institute  said  to  me,  although  that  question  was  not  dis- 
cussed in  any  meeting,  they  were  heartily  in  sympathy  with  the  move- 
ment to  appoint  a  joint  committee  to  go  to  Washington. 

I  am  on  the  Committee  of  the  American  Institute,  and  there  was 
no  report,  and  all  I  know  is  that  the  Chajrman  of  our  committee  sent 
a  telegram  to  the  Convention,  but  that  'there  was  no  opportunity  to  .dis- 
cuss it.  There  was  too  much  pleasure  on  hand,  and  much  less  seems  to 
have  been  accomplished  than  here  in  the  Congress,  and  I  believe  that  if 
it  is  in  order  some  resolution  could  be  introduced  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
ferring with  the  Committee  of  the  American  Institute.  I  believe  the 
men -who  are  actually  interested  in  the  matter  in  the  Institute  wowtd 
take  it  as  a  compliment,  and  would  be  glad  to  confer  with  a  committee 
or  a  sub-committee  that  might  be  appointed  here  today  for  that  pur- 
pose. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  am  sure  the  committee  will  be 
very  glad  indeed  to  confer,  and  if  you  will  kindly  furnish  the  names  of. 
your  committee,  I  will  put  them  in  touch  with  you  and  we  will  be  glad 
of  that  co-operation. 

MR.  WILSON:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  in 
order  at  this  time,  as  you  are  calling  for  matters  in  the  form  of  resolu- 
tions, to  bring  to  the  attention  of  the  Congress,  possibly  in  the  form 
of  a  motion,  a  suggestion  that  favorable  action  be  taken  on  this  letter 
of  the  American  manufacturers  of  New  York,  inviting  you  to  meet  in 
New  York  next  winter,  if  that  is  a  proper  matter  to  refer  to  the  Con- 
gress at  this  time. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  say  that 
the  Mining  Congress  last  night  at  its  annual  Meeting  of  Members  de- 
cided to  give  a  mining  show  and  exposition  in  Chicago  next  year,  and 
we  shall  hope  for  the  co-operation  of  all  similar  organizations  in  making 
a  great  success  of  that  movement.  That  seemed  to  be  the  better  place 
for  such  a  fair  or  exposition,  and  that  plan  has  been  definitely  decided 
upon  by  the  Mining  Congress,  a~hd  we  shall  hope  for  the  co-operation  of 
all  in  connection  with  it. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  The  introduction  of  resolutions  will  now 
follow. 

The  Secretary  read  resolution  as  follows: 
Resolution  No.  4,  Introduced  by  Charles  L.  Dignowity,  of 

Boston,  Mass. 

Resolved,  That  this  American  Mining  Congress,  at  this  ses- 
sion appeal  direct  to  each  mining  state  of  the  West,  that  a  drastic 
law  be  enacted  imposing  a  heavy  fine  as  well  as  imprisonment  for 
all  such  person  or  persons  who  willfully  conceal  or  cause  to  be 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  61 

concealed  beneficial  or  damaging  facts  obtained  by  him  or  them 
in  regard  to  any  mine  he  or  they  have  the  direct  or  indirect  control 
or  management  of,  directly  or  indirectly,  whereof  they  may  use 
such  beneficial  or  damaging  knowledge  to  foster  their  personal  gain 
or  that  of  their  associates,  as  against  the  small  or  scattered  stock- 
holders or  partners. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     Referred  to  the  Committee  on  Resolu- 
tions. 

The  Secretary  read  resolution  as  follows: 

Resolution  No.  5,  Introduced  by  E.  L.  Bartholomew. 

Whereas,  The  United  States  Government,  through  its  Bureau 
of  Mines  and  Geological  Survey  exhibits,  and  technical  demonstra- 
tions at  the  Panama-Pacific  International  Exposition  in  San  Fran- 
cisco this  year,  has  shown  its  exceptional  facilities  for  giving  the 
practical  miner  and  prospector  an  insight  into  the  technical  side  of 
their  profession  which  they  have  long  needed  and  desired;  and 

Whereas,  Some  of  the  state  universities,  notably  those  of 
Arizona,  Nevada  and  Colorado,  through  their  Schools  of  Mining  and 
Engineering,  are  offering  short  courses  for  miners  and  prospectors, 
and 

WThereas,  It  is  often  very  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  for  the 
miner  and  prospector  to  attend  the  university  for  even  a  short  course 
of  study,  and 

Whereas,  Such  technical  training  would  be  of  great  value  to 
the  practical  miner  and  prospector,  enabling  them  to  more  readily 
recognize  the  rarer  minerals  which  are  in  so  much  demand  today 
that  they  so  often  overlook,  thereby  greatly  increasing  the  mineral 
output  of  the  United  States,  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  American  Mining  Congress  ask  the  Bureau 
of  Mines  to  co-operate  with  the  state  universities  of  the  mining 
states  in  working  out  some  plan,  if  necessary  involving  Federal  aid, 
whereby  some  part  of  their  courses  in  mining  and  engineering  can  be 
brought  to  the  miners  and  prospectors  in  the  field,  either  through 
demonstration  cars  and  lectures,  as  in  the  agricultural  courses,  or 
through  correspondence  courses,  thus  enabling  the  practical  miner 
and  prospector  to  cope  with  the  technical  problems  that  arise  in 
their  work,  and  bringing  into  closer  co-operation  the  practical  and 
technical  branches  of  the  mining  profession. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     Referred  to  the  Committee  on  Resolu- 
tions. 

The  Secretary  read   resolution  as  follows: 

Resolution  No.  6,  Introduced  by  A.  G.  MacKenzie, 
Salt  Lake  City,  Utah. 

Whereas,  The  Bureau  of  Mines  has  in  various  branches  of  its 
service  rendered  to  the  mining  industry  of  the  United  States,  during 
the  few  years  of  its  existence,  such  notable  and  valuable  services  as 
to  commend  it  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  to  be  of  par- 
ticular service  to  the  mining  industry,  and 

Whereas,  the  initial  appropriation  for  the  Bureau  of  Mines 
having  been  largely  for  the  benefit  of  the  coal  mining  industry,  and 
for  the  promotion  of  safety  and  efficiency  for  that  branch  of  the 
industry,  and 

Whereas,  The  metalliferous  mining  industry  has  been  greatly 
benefited  by  the  initial  appropriation,  although  this  having  been  en- 
tirely inadequate  for  the  solution  of  many  important  and  pressing 
problems,  which  are  of  such  nature  that  they  cannot  be  solved  by 
the  individual  or  company,  but  which  will  be  of  immense  advantage 
to  the  industry  as  a  whole;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  by  the  American  Mining  Congress,  in  18th  Annual 
Convention  assembled,  That  the  importance  of  larger  appropriation 
for  the  various  branches  of  the  service  now  being  rendered  by  the 
United  States  Bureau  of  Mines,  be  urged  upon  Congress. 


62  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     Referred  to  the  Committee  on  Resolu- 
tions. 

The  Secretary  read   resolution  as  follows: 

Resolution  No.  7,  Introduced  by  Dr,  W.  B.  Phillips,  of 
Colorado 

Whereas,  The  work  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines  is 
greatly  hampered  for  lack  of  funds,  and  . 

Whereas,  The  Bureau  has  been  of  the  greatest  value  and  ad- 
vantage to  the  mining  and  metallurgical  interests  of  the  entire 
country;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  by  the  American  Mining  Congress,  assembled  at  San 
Francisco,  That  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  be  most  respect- 
fully requested  and  urged  to  make  such  appropriations  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  Bureau  as  may  be  required  for  the  maintenance  and 
furtherance  of  its  work. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     Referred  to  the   Committee  on  Resolu- 
tions. 

The  Secretary  read   resolution  as  follows: 

Resolution  No.  8,  Introduced  by  Carl  Scholz. 
Realizing   the   present   unsatisfactory   condition    of    Workmen's 
Compensation  Laws,  and  for  the  purpose  of  simplifying  and  clarify- 
ing relations  between  employes  and  employers,  as  far  as  affected  by 
this  very  important  feature,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  American  Mining  Congress  favors  more 
uniform  laws  in  the  various  states  of  our  Union,  hoping  that  such 
standardization  will  harmonize  relations  between  employes  and 
employers  and  enable  more  willing  and  ready  compliance  with  the 
statutes. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     Referred  to  the   Committee  on  Resolu- 
tions. 

The   Secretary   read   resolution   as   follows: 

Resolution  No.  9,  Introduced  by  Rush   C.  Butler, 
Chicago,  111. 

Be  It  Resolved,  by  the  American  Mining  Congress,  in  18th  An- 
nual Convention  assembled,  That  it  pledge  its  active  co-operation 
with  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  and  with  such  organizations  of 
business  men  as  are  in  sympathy  with  the  Commission's  aims  and 
purposes;  that  it  especially  commend  the  suggestions  of  the  com- 
mission with  reference  to  uniform  cost  accounting  systems,  and  ex- 
presses its  appreciation  of  this  early  evidence  of  constructive  help- 
fulness manifested  by  the  commission  toward  business;  that  the  Fed- 
eral Trade  Committee  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  be  in- 
structed to  co-operate  with  the  Federal  Trade  Committee  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States  to  the  end  that  the 
greatest  possible  good  may  result  from  the  activities  of  the  Federal 
Trade  Commission. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     Referred  to  the   Committee  on  Resolu- 
tions. 

The  Secretary  read   resolution  as  follows: 
Resolution  No.  10,  Introduced  by  Carl  Scholz,  Chicago,  111. 

For  the  purpose  of  bringing  more  clearly  before  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  not  affiliated  with  or  engaged  in^the  mining 
industries,  the  vital  problems  not  yet  solved;  be  it  hereby  provided 

That  the  American  Mining  Congress  again  express  its  will- 
ingness and  readiness  to  co-operate  with  the  various  branches  of 
the  national  and  state  governments,  and  chiefly  the  Bureau  of  Mines, 
the  United  States  Geological  .Survey  and  the  Federal  Trade  Com- 
mission, to  obtain  for  the  mining  industries  deserving  recognition 
for  those  engaged  therein;  standing  on  our  rights  as  citizens,  we 
ask  for  justice  and  fairness,  and  with  full  confidence  expect  the  sup- 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  63 

port  and  co-operation  of  the  American  people  in  the  conduct  of  our 
business. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Referred  to  the  Committee,  on  Resolu- 
tions. Has  the  Resolutions  Committee  any  report  to  make? 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  Your  Committee  on  Resolutions  begs  to 
report  Resolution  No.  1,  introduced  by  the  Idaho  delegation,  with  the 
recommendation  of  the  committee  that  trie  resolution  be  adopted.  I 
move  that  the  report  of  the  committee  be  adopted. 

Motion   seconded   and  unanimously  carried. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  Mr.  President,  your  committee  has  con- 
sidered Resolution  No.  2,  introduced  by  Prof.  Charles  F.  Willis,  and 
recommends  its  adoption.  I  move  that  the  report  of  the  committee  be 
adopted. 

Motion  seconded  and  carried. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  Your  committee  has  carefully  considered 
Resolution  No.  3,  introduced  by  Mr.  J.  E.  Kennedy,  and  believes  that 
the  American  Mining  Congress  is  not  in  position  at  this  time  to  make 
such  an  investigation  of  housing  conditions  as  would  be  useful,  and 
therefore  recommends  that  the  resolution  be  tabled. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Gentlemen,  you  heard  Resolution  No. 
3,  and  the  recommendations  of  the  committee.  What  is  your  pleasure? 

MR.  UTTER:  Mr.  President,  if  1  am  in  order,  I  will  state  the 
committee  is  in  full  sympathy  with  that  resolution,  but  it  will  be  abso- 
lutely impractical,  as  we  look  at  it,  to  appoint  a  committee  that  could 
go  all  over  the  United  States  and  investigate  the  housing  of  the  different 
mines  at  this  time.  For  that  reason,  it  was  not  approved. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  move  that  that  resolution 
be  laid  on  the  table. 

The  motion  was  thereupon  seconded,  put  and  carried. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     It  is  so  ordered: 

JUDGE  RICPIARDS:  Mr.  Chairman,  may  I  inquire  just  when 
you  contemplate  adjourning?  (Laughter.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  The  regular  hour  for  adjournment  has 
been  fixed  for  12  o'clock,  but  it  seems  evident  that  we  shall  not  finish 
by  that  time.  Nevertheless,  I  will  suggest  that  the  committee  retire  at 
this  time,  and  take  up  such  resolutions  as  they  have,  and  report  on  them 
at  noon. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  The  committee  will  meet  in  the  room  ad- 
joining. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Can  the  committee  report  at 
11:30? 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Yes,  bring  in  by  11:30  such  resolutions 
as  you  can  pass  upon.  We  will  now  proceed  to  our  regular  program, 
which  is  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Workmen's  Compensation,  by 
Mr.  J.  W.  Dawson,  Chairman,  of  Charleston,  West  Virginia. 

SECRETARY   CALLBREATH:     That   report   is   not   here. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  Dawson's  report  has  been  forwarded 
by  mail,  but  is  not  at  hand.  We  will  therefore  proceed  with  the  report 
of  the  Committee  on  Freight  and  Ore  Treatment  Rates,  by  Mr.  Imer 
Pett,  of  Salt  Lake  City,  Chairman. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Chairman,  this  report  is  a 
very  extended,  and  I  hope  very  helpful,  report.  It  is  more  or  less  a 
general  statement  of  conditions  than  a  report  with  any  recommenda- 
tion. Heretofore  at  different  times  in  the  history  of  the  Mining  Con- 
gress, there  has  been  much  fault  found  with  the  treatment  which  has 
been  accorded  to  the  mining  industry  by  the  smelting  interests,  and  fre- 
quently by  transportation'  companies.  This  report  is  based  upon  the 
theory  that  at  Salt  Lake  the  competition  in  the  smelting  field  is  ample 
to  bring  about  satisfactory  conditions,  and  that  the  railroads  have  been 
treating  the  mine  owners  and  ore -shippers  with  considerable  generosity. 
Now,  I  am  just  hastily  summarizing  what  this  report  contains.  I  do 
not  know  whether  you  care  to  have  it  all  read  or  not  owing  to  the  late- 


64  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

ness  of  the  hour.  1  do  not  know  whether  we  should  take  the  time,  and 
it  can  be  in  the  proceedings,  and  yet  it  ought  to  be  passed  upon  by  this 
Convention. 

What  is  your  pleasure?  Shall  I  read  it  all,  or  read  the  salient 
points  in  it,  or  shall  we — 

MR.  BARTHOLOMEW:  I  move  that  the  Convention  act  upon 
your  judgment. 

MR.  MACKENZIE:  Mr.  President,  I  am  familiar  with  that  report 
and  had  something  to  do  with  the  preparation  of  it,  and  I  would  now 
move  that  the  report  be  referred,  but  perhaps  seconding  the  motion  oi 
Mr.  Bartholomew  and  the  Secretary's  statements,  because  he  summarized 
briefly  what  is  contained  in  the  report,  and  let  it  be  contained  in  the 
printed  report  of  our  proceedings. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  ~~W7as  that  a  second  to  Mr.  Bartholo- 
mew's motion? 

MR.  ELDRIDGE:  Mr.  President,  it  is  remarkable,  from  my 
standpoint,  to  attempt  to  adopt  any  reports  that  have  not  been  read. 
Gentlemen,  it  is  very  foolish  for  you  to  attempt  to  adopt  something  you 
know  nothing  about.  While  my  friend,  Mackenzie,  had  something  to 
do  with  its  preparation,  all  right;  he  may  know  something;  I  do  not. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  may  not  agree  with  my  views,  and  I  shall  certainly 
refuse  to  vote  on  any  report  I  have  no  knowledge  of. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  The  recommendations  of  the  re- 
port are  rather  short.  The  balance  is  sort  of  history  of  conditions.  I 
think  it  would  perhaps  be  wise  to  have  it  all  read.  If  the  gentleman 
wants  it  all  read,  we  will  read  it  all. 

A  DELEGATE:     Just  read  the  recommendations. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Read  the  recommendations  of 
the  report. 

MR.  MACKENZIE:  Mr.  President,  just  a  word  further  on  that.  I 
was  simply  trying  to  save  the  time  of  the  Convention,  assuming  that 
the  others  would  read  the  report.  There  is  certainly  nothing  in  there 
the  committee  wishes  to  conceal.  I  would  be  very  glad  to  have  the  re- 
port read  at  length,  but  as  the  Secretary  says,  it  is  long,  and  I  was,  in 
seconding  Mr.  Batholomew's  motion,  trying  to  save  time,  and  thought 
the  gentleman  could  read  it  in  the  printed  proceedings. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     Gentlemen,  "you  have  heard  the  motion. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Gentlemen,  I  do  not  like  to  take 
that  responsibility.  Having  read  the  recommendations,  I  think  it  would 
be  in  order  that  they  be  acted  on. 

MR.  WILSON:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  move  the  report  be  referred  to 
the  Committee  for  further  action. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  It  would  seem  to  the  chair  that  the 
recommendations  having  been  read,  and  seeing  the  salient  part  of  the 
report,  it  would  be  proper  for  you  to  act  on  the  recommendations,  and 
either  accept  or  reject  them. 

MR.  WILSON:  I  will  make  that  as  an  additional  part  of  my 
motion. 

The  motion  was  thereupon   duly  put  and  carried. 

Report  of  Committee  on  Freight  and  Ore  Treatment  Rates. 

Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  September  15,  1915. 

To  the  Honorable  President  and  Members  of  the  American  Mining  Con- 
gress, in   Convention  Assembled: 

Gentlemen:  Your  Committee  on  Freight  and  Ore  Treatment  Rates, 
consisting  of  the  following  members,  all  residents  of  Salt  Lake  City, 
Utah — Imer  Pett,  Harry  S.  Joseph,  Geo.  H.  Dern,  W.  Mont  Ferry,  Arthur 
Thomas — respectfully  submit  the  following  report  of  such  consideration 
as  we  have  given  the  subject  matter  assigned  to  us  for  investigation. 
One  of  the  members  of  our  Committee,  Arthur  Thomas,  who  was  for- 
merly of  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah,  is  not  accessible,  hence  this  report  has 
been  filed  by  four  members. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  65 

One  of  the  first  actions  of  the  Committee  was  to  cause  the  publi- 
cation in  a  Salt  Lake  daily  newspaper  of  the  following: 

"UTAH   CHAPTER  WILL  SUBMIT  A   CONDITIONS 
REPORT   AT    CONGRESS. 

"Mine  operators  throughout  the  State  are  requested  by  the  Freights 
and  Ore  Committee  of  the  Utah  Chapter  of  the  American  Mining  Con- 
gress to  report  to  it  any  grievances  they  may  have  in  relation  to  trans- 
portation and  smelting  matters,  as  the  Committee  is  preparing  a  report 
which  will  be  forwarded  to  headquarters  about  September  10th.  This 
request  was  put  out  after  a  meeting  of  the  members  held  in  Salt  Lake 
on  Thursday. 

"The  meeting  was  attended  by  Imer  Pett,  Chairman;  Harry  S. 
Joseph,  George  H.  Dern,  W.  Mont  Ferry  and  Arthur  Thomas.  -They 
had  been  requested  by  the  Congress  to  prepare  and  submit  a  conditions 
report  a't  the  convention  to  be  held  in  San  Francisco  the  latter  part  of 
September. 

"One  of  the  members  said  yesterday:  'Rumors  are  afloat  in  some 
quarters  that  the  smelters  have  been  actively  disposing  of  ore  from 
their  own  mines,  and  that  they  have  refused  to  buy  ores  from  independ- 
ent mines,  to  the  great  detriment  of  the  independent  mine  operators.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  is  an  answer,  that  the  smelters  did  not  feel  like 
buying  ores  indiscriminately  at  prices  governed  by  a  spasmodic  demand, 
which  was  not  certain  to  continue,  and  which  might  leave  the  smelting 
company  writh  a  large  amount  of  metal  bought  in  at  a  high  price,  which 
could  only  be  sold  at  a  price  very  much  less  than  the  ore  cost  them. 

"  'The  Committee  knows  of  no  special  instances  of  complaint  in 
respect  to  these  matters,  but,  as  it  is  formulating  its  report  to  submit 
to  the  convention,  it  would  like  to  have  a  full  and  complete  report  from 
anyone  feeling  that  he  has  not  received  proper  treatment  at  the  hands 
of  the  smelters  or  railroad  companies.'  " 

No  responses  of  any  kind  were  received  by  the  Committee. 

We  have  had  several  meetings  and  have  come  to  the  conclusions 
embraced  in  this  report.  We  have  divided  the  subject  matter  into  two 
parts — first,  Freight  Rates,  and  second,  Ore  Treatment  Rates — and  have 
sub-divided  each  one  of  these  divisions  into  two  parts — first,  under 
Freight  Rates,  Present  Conditions;  second,  Recommendations;  and 'sim- 
ilarly with  Ore  Treatment  Rates. 

FREIGHT  RATES. 
(Present  Conditions.) 

We  have  been  in  consultation  with  a  great  many  shippers  of  ore, 
particularly  of  this  State,  and  while  in  various  cases  we  have  heard 
complaints  of  excessive  freight  rates,  generally  speaking,  the  shippers 
seem  to  feel  that,  considering  all  questions  involved  in  the  matter  of 
ore  freight  rates,  they  are  coming  to  a  better  understanding  with  the 
railroad  companies. 

In  many  cases,  no  doubt,  the  railroads  have  been  shortsighted  in 
keeping  up  the  rates,  and  have  not  given,  in  certain  instances,  proper 
consideration  to  the  applications  of  shippers.  This,  of  course,  has  re- 
sulted in  protest  and  complaint,  but  we  believe  the  railroad  companies 
are  beginning  to  .realize  that  mistakes  have  been  made  and  are  ready 
to  listen  to  reason.  Likewise,  dissatisfied  shippers  are  beginning  to 
understand  that  the  better  way  to  get  lower  rates  from  the  railroad 
companies  is  by  bringing  facts,  figures  and  statistics  to  show  that  they 
need  lower  rates,  and  also  that  the  lower  rates  will  be  of  benefit  to 
the  railroads. 

Your  Committee  fully  appreciates  the  fact  that  the  railroads  have 
been  going  through  the  stress  of  a  very  hard  campaign,  hampered  as 
they  have  been  by  direct  and  indirect  legislation,  both  from  State  and 
National  Legislatures,  and  that  continued  harassments  and  embarrass- 
ments of  transportation  companies  by  shippers  would  only  tend  to 
create  a  wider  breach  between  the  companies  and  their  patrons.  Some 


66  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

years  ago  this  subject  of  ore  freight  rates  was  touched  upon  by  the 
American  Mining  Congress,  and  committees  were  appointed  to  formu- 
late plans,  and  their  conclusions  were  from  time  to  time  brought  before 
the  Congress  for  deliberation,  but  no  definite  stand  was  ever  taken  by 
the  Congress.  However,  local  organizations  have  been  successful  in 
showing  the  railroad  companies  that  a  reduction  in  rates  upon  low-grade 
ores  would  result  in  opening  up  bodies  of  higher  grade  ores  which  would 
give  them  (the  railroad  companies)  the  advantage  and  justification  of 
tacking  on  to  ihe  shippers  a  higher  rate  than  the  ore  could  stand. 

As  a  special  instance  of  this  argument,  we  only  have  to  cite  our 
experiences  in  the  Tintic  District  of  Utah,  where  rates  upon  low-grade 
ores  were,  a  few  years  ago,  materially  reduced,  resulting  in  keeping  the 
mines  alive  and  enabling  the  mine  owners  to  bring  to  light  higher  grade 
ores 'which,  had  it  not  been  for  the  concessions  of  the  railroad  com- 
panies, might  never  have  been  developed.  Our  local  organizations  are 
still  at  work  with  the  railroads  to  convince  them  that  a  reduction  to  a 
still  lower  level  would  be  of  inestimable  benefit  to  the  railroad  companies 
in  that  it  would  result  in  increased  tonnages  and  revenues  at  very  little 
additional  'cost  to  the  carriers. 

(Recommendations.) 

We  recommend  that  a  broader  feeling  of  amity  be  established 
between  ore  shippers  and  railroads;  that  in  matters  of  dispute  between 
ore  shippers  and  railroads  co-operation  and  sound  arguments  be  used 
instead  of  threats  of  adverse  legislation,  because  the  railroads  are  a 
necessity  and  instead  of  curtailing  their  usefulness  we  should  encourage 
their  development  to  the  end  that  they  may  reach  every  available  mining 
district  in  this  western  country. 

We  recommend  further  that  where  small  shippers  or  others  at 
isolated  points  have  grievances  of  alleged  discrimination  or  excessive 
freight  rates,  they  communicate  with  the  Local  Chapter  of  the  American 
Mining  Congress  in  their  respective  localities,  which  we  are  sure  will 
do  all  in  its  power  to  relieve  their  distress  if  it  finds  their  complaints 
worthy  of  attention  and  consideration,  and  will  constitute  itself  a  medium 
through  which  redress  might  more  readily  be  obtained. 

ORE  TREATMENT  RATES. 
(Present  Conditions.) 

The  market  prices  of  all  metals  have  been  in  such  a  chaotic  state 
within  the  last  year  by  reason  of  the  international  difficulties,  both  at 
home  and  abroad,  that  the  American  miner  can  hardly  sense  his  present 
unsettled  condition.  The  violent  and  broad  fluctuations  in  the  prices  of 
metals  have  at  times  been  very  discouraging,  and  at  times' very  encourag- 
ing to  the  miner.  Take,  for  instance,  the  price  of  spelter,  which  normally, 
through  an  average  of  a  series  of  years,  is  about  SJ/2  cents  per  pound, 
suddenly,  by  reason  of  the  increased  demand,  lack  of  smelting  facilities 
and  the  inability  of  mine  operators  to  meet  the  situation  in  a  hurry, 
jumped  to  an  abnormally  high  price  per  pound,  a  price  unheard  of  and 
unrecorded  in  the  history  of  that  metal.  Mines  which  produced  a 
sulphide  ore  started  to  increase  production,  but  the  smelters  were  not 
equipped  to  handle  it.  Most  of  our  important  smelters  have  mines  of 
their  own,  and  had  contracts  with  mine  operators  which  had  to  be 
lived  up  to.  Lack  of  equipment  and  the  facts  referred  to  prevented 
the  smelters  from  taking  ores  from  mine  operators  who  had  no  con- 
tracts. This  seemed  to  work  a  hardship  upon  these  operators,  and  even 
upon  larger  producers  who  endeavored  to  multiply  their  production 
many  fold  to  take  advantage  of  the  high  prices,  thus  bringing  about  a 
condition  wherein  production  far  exceeded  the  capacity  of  the  smelters. 

We  know  of  one  instance  where  a  certain  mining  company  had 
a  contract  for  its  zinc  ores  set  at  a  certain  tonnage  limit.  It  exceeded 
the  limit  by  only  a  few  tons,  and  payment  upon  shipments  of  many  thou- 
sands of  tons  of  zinc  was  refused,  alleging  violation  of  the  contract. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  67 

Those  who  were  purchasing  zinc  in  this  country  for  the  use  of  the 
allied  nations  at  war  could  not  find  a  means  of  shipment,  and  they  found 
themselves  with  vast  quantities  of  zinc  on  hand;  hence,  from  the  abnor- 
mal price  referred  to  above,  zinc  dropped  to  a  much  lower  level,  so  that 
with  an  unstable  market  in  zinc  as  at  present,  the  American  mine  oper- 
ator is  in  a  state  of  uncertainty. 

If  the  abnormal  demand  for  zinc  should  continue  through  a  series 
of  years,  the  zinc  mine  operators  will  have  to  wait  until  there  are  more 
smelting  facilities  afforded  for  the  treatment  of  zinc  ores.  In  some 
instances  we  have  been  informed  that  zinc  companies  are  increasing  their 
capacities  as  rapidly  as  time  and  money  will  permit,  and  some  smelting 
companies  have  purchased  abandoned  plants  and  are  endeavoring  to 
resuscitate  them  for  the  handling  of  zinc  ores. 

Silicious  ores  are  very  much  in  demand  by  the  smelters  at  the 
present  time,  and  we  understand  they  are  giving  the  mine  operators 
reasonable  and  fair  treatment.  In  some  instances,  properties  which  had 
vast  quantities  of  ore  on  their  dumps  and  in  their  mines  which  was  not 
susceptible  to  smelter  treatment  years  ago  on  account  of  the  high 
charges,  today  are  hauling  this  ore  to  market,  and  it  is  being  handled 
by  the  smelters  on  a  very  reasonable  treatment  charge. 

As  for  the  future  of  the  silver  market,  this  Committee  is  in  a 
quandary,  and  we  would  like  to  hear  during  the  proceedings  of  this 
convention  some  discussion  by  learned  economists  on  what  hopes  the 
American  mine  operator  can  build  his  future  operations.  Periodicals 
and  magazines  do  not  hold  out  arty  optimistic  outlook  for  silver  during 
the  continuation  of  the  war,  and  if  the  condition  of  a  falling  market 
should  continue,  it  is  difficult  for  us  to  presage  what  might  be  the 
future  of  some  of  our  silver  mines,  unless  the  smelters  should  be  willing 
^p  meet  us  half-way  and  make  a  decrease  in  the  smelter  treatment  of 
silver  ores  commensurate  with  the  fall  in  price;  but  it  might  be  said, 
that  it  would  be  unreasonable  for  the  mine  operator  to  ask  the  smelting' 
company  to  bear  the  entire  burden  without  asking  labor  correspondingly 
to  bear  its  share,  or  even  asking  the  railroad  companies  to  bear  their 
share  of  the  burden. 

We  have  heard  no  complaints  against  the  smelters  since  the  matter 
was  fully  threshed  out  before  a  meeting  of  the  American  Mining  Con- 
gress held  in  Joplin  on  excessive  smelting  charges.  We  are  satisfied 
that  the  matter  of  alleged  false  sampling  by  the  smelters  and  alleged 
moisture  frauds  has  been  grossly  exaggerated.  Alleged  collusion  on  the 
part  of  the  employes  of  the  smelting  company  to  defraud  the  ore  ship- 
per is  so  practically  ridiculous  that  it  is  not  worthy  of  attention.  Too 
many  confidences  would  have  to  be  placed  in  head  and  minor  officials 
and  employes  of  a  smelting  company  to  effectually  rob  the  shipper  of 
one  dollar  of  the  value  of  his  ore. 

We  believe  that  there  is  a  feeling  of  good  fellowship  between  the 
smelters  and  ore  shippers  today,  such  as  has  not  existed  for  many 
years:  that  the  ore  shipper  feels  he  needs  the  smelter,  and  the  smelting 
company  feels  that  it  must  have  the  shipper  in  order  to  keep  its  plants 
alive. 

There  is  one  evil,  however,  we  would  like  to  point  out  which  is 
the  foundation  of  many  complaints  on  the  paft  of  especially  the  small 
producer  and  prospector,  and  we  can  best  illustrate  the  point  we  desire 
to  make  by  quoting  an  example.  A  prospector  brings  a  hand  sample  of 
ore  into  a  custom  assayer.  He  asks  the  assayer  after  the  assay  has  been 
finished  to  give  him  the  value  of  the  ore  in  dollars  and  cents.  The 
assayer,  whether  through  ignorance  or  a  desire  to  encourage  the  pros- 
pector, gives  him  a  value  in  dollars  and  cents  based  upon  the  prices  of 
the  metals  contained  in  the  ore,  without  taking  into  consideration  the 
deductions  necessarily  made  by  the  smelter  for  treatment  charges,  losses 
in  smelting,  moisture  in  the  ore,  or  deductions  for  freight,  marketing  and 
refining  the  metal,  so  that  when  the  ore  producer  referred  to  ships  his 
ore  to  the  smelter  and  receives  a  settlement  sheet  therefor,  he  usually 


68  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

finds  a  great  variation  between  the  price  quoted  by  the  assayer  and  the 
price  received  from  the  smelter.  His  first  impulse  is  to  charge  the  smelt- 
ing company  with  fraud.  In  other  words,  the  assayer  has  given  him  a 
full  100  per  cent  of  the  gross  metallic  contents  at  the  point  of  origin, 
figured  at  the  price  of  the  refined  metal,  while  the  smelter  gives  him 
the  value  of  his  ore  based  upon  its  ability  to  smelt  the  ore,  to  market 
and  refine  the  metals,  and  interest  upon  its  own  investment. 

(Recommendations.) 

We  recommend  that  a  more  general  feeling  of  confidence  be  exhib- 
ited on  the  part  of  ore  shippers  toward  the  smelters.  Where  there  is 
any  doubt  in  the  minds  of  ore  shippers  as  to  the  fairness  of  treatment, 
we  recommend  that  they  apply  to  the  Local  Chapter,  which  we  are 
sure  will  do  everything  in  its  power  to  have  the  matter  adjusted.  We 
further  recommend  that  a  propaganda  be  sent  out  to  all  custom  assayers 
not  to  quote  to  prospectors  or  small  producers  who  bring  in  their 
various  hand  samples  for  assay,  values  of  a  shipment  based  upon  such 
assays,  unless  they  are  in  a  position  to  judge  accurately  of  the  smelting 
charges  and  the  customary  deductions  from  the  value  of  the  metallic 
contents  and  the  metal  prices.  We  would  suggest  that  the  assayer, 
rather  than  make  quotations  upon  the  market  value  of  ores,  would 
refer  his  customer  to  the  smelter  for  quotation  on  such  ores  as  he  has 
assayed. 

There  is  still  a  great  field  before  the  American  miner  in  the  matter 
of  treatment  of  ores,  especially  the  low-grade  ores,  and  those  which 
have  been  heretofore  rebellious.  The  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines, 
which  was  brought  into  being  largely  through  the  instrumentality  of 
the  American  Mining  Congress,  is  doing  a  great  deal  of  experimental  and 
research  work  in  the  line  of  ore  treatment  and  ore  dressing,  and  we 
recommend  that  our  members  keep  in  close  touch  with  that  department 
so  that  they  may  be  fully  advised  of  the  advances  made  in  the  metal- 
lurgical field. 

In  conclusion,  we  desire  to  state  that  the  desire  of  the  railroads 
for  freight  business  and  their  further  desire  to  meet  the  shippers  half- 
way has  resulted  in  considerable  of  the  reductions  in  freight  rates;  and 
that  the  advance  in  metallurgical  methods  during  the  past  few  years  has 
similarly  brought  about  a  reduction  in  smelter  rates  by  the  smelting 
companies,  which  realize  that  thev  could  ably  afford  to  do  so,  thus 
cutting  off  some  of  their  own  profits  and  giving  them  to  the  producer 
in  order  to  stimulate  production.  Respectfully  submitted, 

IMER  PETT,  Chairman; 
HARRY  S.  JOSEPH, 
G.  H.  BERN, 
W.  MONT  FERRY. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  We  will  now  proceed  with  the  first 
speaker,  "The  Need  of  Better  Mining  Education,"  by  Prof.  Charles  F. 
Willis,  of  Tucson,  Arizona.  Mr.  Willis. 

PROF.  WILLIS:  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  In  the 
preparation  of  a  paper  on  "The  Needs  and  Methods  of  Improvement  of 
Mining  Education,"  I  found  that  the  field  was  exceedingly  large,  and  so 
this  report  has  become  more  a  summary  of  what  has  been  done,  what 
portion  of  the  field  has  Keen  cultivated,  and  what  portion  of  the  field 
still  needs  cultivation.  I  am  not  going  to  attempt  to  read  the  whole 
paper,  but  am  going  to  take  portions  of  it,  as  I  assume  those"  who  are 
interested  in  mining  education  will  read  the  whole  of  it  at  some  future 
time. 

Prof.  Willis'  paper  will  be  found  at  page  141   of  this  report. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Gentlemen,  Mr.  Willis'  paper  has  been 
most  interesting  and  instructive,  and  I  hope  before  the  end  of  the  session 
we  will  have  an  opportunity  to  have  some  discussion  on  it.  The  plan 
indicated  appeals  to  me,  because  I  have  had  somewhat  similar  educa- 
tion, having  had  to  work  underground  before  I  went  to  school.  That  has 
proven  particularly  successful,  because  it  eliminated  many  men  who 

1 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  69 

would  not  have  been  able  to  stand  the  actual  work  of  the  mine,  and 
would  not  have  been  a  credit  to  the  practical  end  of  the  work. 

The  next  item  on  the  program  is  an  address  by  Mr.  Otto  Ruhl, 
"The  Future  of  the  American  Zinc  Industry."  Mr.  Ruhl  is  engaged  in 
the  Resolutions  Committee,  and  unless  he  comes  back,  we  will  have  to 
pass  this  for  the  present  and  take  it  up  later.  Mr.  Ruhl's  address  will  be 
found  in  full  on  page  183  of  this  report. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  Ruhl  is  not  in  the  hall,  so  we  will 
proceed  to  the  paper  by  Mr.  G.  H.  Dowell,  of  Bisbee,  Arizona,  "The 
Development  of  Mine  Taxation  in  Arizona."  The  paper  has  been  handed 
in  to  the  Secretary,  I  believe,  but  Mr.  Dowell  might  give  us  a  brief 
resume  as  to*what  his  paper  contains. 

Mr.  Dowell's  address  will  be  found  at  page  154  of  this  report. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  Dowell's  subject  is  one  which  always 
evokes  much  interest,  -because  taxes  are  being  raised  generally.  His 
advice  that  we  take  an  active  interest  in  looking  after  the  appointment 
of  the  proper  commissions  is  one  that  I  think  we  should  well  heed.  I 
think  our  session  at  Phoenix  last  year,  perhaps,  was  quite  a  help  to  the 
Arizona  delegates  in  that  respect,  and  I  hope  that  other  States  will  have 
profited  by  it  in  a  similar  manner. 

One  of  the  most  important  subjects  which  the  Mining  Congress 
has  fostered,  during  the  last  eight  or  ten  years,  perhaps,  is  the  subject 
of  workmen's  compensation.  It  is  a  matter  which  comes  home  closer 
to  us  than  almost  anything  else.  I  think  I  said  at  one  of  the  previous 
meetings  that  nothing  results  more  in  establishing  a  feeling  of  confi- 
dence and  co-operation  in  any  man  than  the  knowledge  that  his  family 
will  be  provided  for  in  case  of  accident  to  himself.  The  instinct  of  the 
animal  is  certainly  a  good  example,  which  we  ought  to  follow,  and 
which  employers  are  generally  following.  Unfortunately,  workmen's 
compensation  has  been  a  political  football  which  has  been  kicked  from 
corner  to  corner,  and  unless  strong  minds  get  together  and  solve  this 
big  problem,  it  will  not  accomplish  what  it  was  meant  to  bring  about. 

We  have  with  us  this  morning  a  gentleman  who  is  devoting  his 
effort  to  this  subject  now,  and  I  will  ask  Mr.  Herbert  M.  Wilson  to 
present  his  address  on  "Workman's  Compensation  Insurance  and  the 
Coal  Mining  Industry."  Mr.  Wilson.  (  Applause.) 

Mr.  Wilson's  address  will  be  found  at  page  156  of  this  report. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  I  am  sure  I  voice  the  satisfaction  of 
members  of  our  Congress  when  I  say  that  Mr.  Wilson's  paper  has  been 
most  instructive  to  us,  and  that  we  are  much  gratified  to  know  the  stand 
now  adopted  by  the  insurance  companies.  The  merit  rating  particularly 
appeals  to  me,  because  it  places  a  premium  upon  careful  operation.  The 
old  plan  of  the  insurance  company  was  to  get  as  much  premium,  and 
pay  out  as  little  as  possible,  resulting  in  many  unnecessary  lawsuits, 
depriving  women  and  children  of  compensation  they  were  entitled  to, 
and  creating,  in  my  opinion,  one  of  the  greatest  causes  of  ill  feeling 
that  existed  between  employers  and  employes.  The  attitude  of  the 
insurance  companies,  as  now  explained,  is  undoubtedly  the  result  of 
analyses  .and  investigations,  and  it  is  truly  gratifying  to  me  that  they 
have  progressed  as  other  industries  have. 

The  next  item  on  the  program  is  an  address  by  Mr.  David  Ross, 
"The  New  Plan  of  Mining  Insurance." 

The  address  of  Mr.  Ross  will  be  found  at  page  163  of  this  report. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  The  next  address  will  be  by  Dr.  Fred- 
erick L.  Hoffman,  statistician  of  the  Prudential  Insurance  Company^  of 
Newark,  New  Jersey. 

Dr.  Hoffman's  address  will  be  found  at  page  172  of  this  report. 

MR.  HARRY  L.  DAY:  ,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  been  very  much 
interested,  in  the  three  days  we  have  been  in  session,  in  hearing  the 
views  of  the  professional  gentlemen  who  have  been  devoting  their  time 
and  attention  to  the  various  phases  of  the  mining  industry.  In  particular, 
the  discussion  which  has  taken  place  in  regard  to  the  safety  and  health 
of  employes  has  been  interesting.  Nothing  has  been  said  directly,  yet 


70  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

the  inference  to  be  drawn — the  general  inference  is  that  the  despised 
employer  is  the  man  directly  or  indirectly  responsible  for  the  conditions 
which  have  been  criticised.  On  behalf  of  that  humble  individual,  I  want 
to  say  a  word  in  defense,  possibly,  or  rather  in  offense.  I  appreciate 
it  very  highly,  particularly  the  very  able  paper  and  address  we  have 
just  heard  from  Dr.  Hoffman,  covering  the  conditions  in  the  mines  on 
the  Pacific  Coast  and  in  Nevada.  I  am  not  familiar  with  these,  but 
assume  they  are  largely  similar  to  the  conditions  which  prevail  in  the 
quartz  mines  of  the  coast.  I  am  familiar  with  conditions  in  Washington, 
Idaho  and  Montana,  and  I  am  obliged  to  disagree  radically  with  the 
conclusions  which  have  been  drawn  by  some  of  the  professional  gentle- 
men who  have  spoken  here.  In  the  first  place,  I  want  to  make  .the 
assertion,  with  all  the  emphasis  possible,'  that  the  attention  has  been 
entirely  misdirected.  You  have  not  got  at  the  root  of  the  trouble.  The 
Anaconda  Mining  Company,  as  you  all  know,  is  one  of  the  biggest 
companies  in  the  world,  and  is  employing  a  force  of  ten  thousand  men 
in  the  mills  and  reduction  works  at  Butte,  Montana,  and  one  of  the 
most  intelligently  managed  concerns  in  the  country,  and  its  employes 
receive  the  highest  wages  in  the  world — always  have,  and  probably 
always  will.  Underground  conditions  there  are  in  many  respects  good, 
and  in  some  respects  are  bad,  owing  to  local  rock  conditions.  Now, 
the  management  are  just  as  humane  men  as  one  will  find  anywhere.  It 
happens  the  vice-president  of  the  company  is  Mr.  Kelley,  who  worked 
his  way  up  from  a  poor  boy  to  his  present  high  position  as  vice-president 
of  this  great  company,  and  has  lately  moved  to  NeW|  York  to  take  a 
step  higher  up.  He  started  in  as  chain  man,  and  what  we  call  a  nipper, 
carrying  tools  in  the  mine.  He  earned  enough  money  to  educate  him- 
self, and  read  law,  and  graduated,  and  took  a  splendid  position  with  his 
company,  and  now,  as  I  say,  is  in  entire  charge  of  its  work,  and  knows 
the  game  from  top  to  bottom;  one  of  the  most  humane  and  helpful 
mining  men  in  the  world.  He  established  some  time  ago  a  department 
of  safety,  with  a  special  engineer  in  charge  of  that  department,  who 
does  nothing  else  but  work  day  and  night  on  the  problems  of  increasing 
the  safety  of  the  men  and  safeguarding  their  health."  They  keep  exact 
statistics  on  all  these  matters.  Their  experience  has  been  that  approxi- 
mately— this  is  subject  to  a  slight  change  of  the  pen  one  way  or  the 
other — approximately  two-thirds  of  all  the  accidents  to  the  men  are 
caused  by  the  willful  carelessness  or  criminal  negligence  of  the  indi- 
vidual himself.  Now,  those  are  the  figures,  and  I  again  say  that  in  my 
observation  they  have  been  substantiated.  We  are  astonished  ourselves 
to  find'  how  little  the  fault  is  with  the  employer,  and  how  little  with 
the  natural  hazard  of  the  business. 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  want  to  call  all  your  attention  to  this  point,  and 
ask  you  to  devote  your  attention  to  that,  and  give  us  the  solution  along 
that  line:  What  do  we  do  if  the  soldier  on  duty  violates  an  order?  He 
is  punished  for  it,  and  severely.  If  a  citizen  disobeys  the  laws  of  his 
State,  or  even  the  warnings  of  a  crossing  policeman,  he  is  guilty  of  a 
misdemeanor,  and  may  be  haled  into  court.  Something  is  done  to  him. 
But  we  have  no  power  in  the  world  to  punish  a  miner  who  deliberately 
violates  the  rules  and  regulations  of  a  mine  and  causes  an  accident  to 
himself  and  perhaps  to  others,  except  to  discharge  him,  and  that's  no 
penalty,  because  he  goes  next  door  and  gets  another  job,  and  the  man 
who  takes  his  place  does  just  as  badly.  We  have  no  way  of  punishing 
them  for  disobeying  the  rules.  We  cannot  enforce  those  rules.  We 
have*  made  rules  until  the  cows  come  home,  and  they  do  no  good.  We 
punish  them — the  careless  and  reckless  men — by  discharge,  but  cannot 
stop  it.  There  is  the  main  taproot  of  all  this  evil,  and  until  we  find 
some  method  of  punishing  the  men  for  disobeying  the  rules  and  regula- 
tions of  the  mines,  thus  causing  disaster,  I  do  not  know  how  we  can 
find  a  remedy  for  the  general  conditions.  I  tried  to  secure  the  insertion 
in  our  compensation  law  of  a  clause  that  one-eighth  of  the  indemnity 
should  be  paid  by  the  employes  themselves,  deducted  from  the  pay  rolls, 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  71 

and  paid  into  the  fund.  I  could  not  get  it  in  the  law,  which  was  vetoed 
by^the  Governor  of  Idaho.  The  State  of  Oregon  has  a  law  which  in- 
cludes that  feature.  There  a  commission  investigated  the  subject  of 
compensation — an  able  commission,  composed  of  nine  very  able  men 
in  Oregon,  and  after  two  years  of  very  earnest  effort  they  brought  in 
a  report  saying  that  the  large  proportion  of  the  accidents  were  caused 
by  the  workmen  themselves,  and  they  should,  in  all  fairness,  be  bound 
to  pay  a  portion  of  the  indemnity,  and  put  it  in  the  recommendation,  and 
it  was  made  law.  We  have  not  got  that  far  in  Idaho,  and  I  do  not 
know  any  other  State  that  has  gone  that  far. 

Now,  I  want  to  say,  in  my  observations,  I  believe  the  employers 
of  California,  as  well  as  other  States  of  the  West,  are  as  high-minded 
and  earnest  men  as  in  any  line  of  business  or  industry.  The  fatalities 
in  mines,  the  accidents,  and  the  diseases  incidental  to  that  business,  are 
matters  of  deep  concern  to  them.  There  is  nothing  so  grievous  to  the 
management  of  a  mine  as  an  accident,  nothing — fire,  flood  or  accident 
of  any  kind  that  destroys  property — is  as  nothing  to  the  destruction  of 
life  and  limb,  and  those  of  you  who  have  had  experience  and  had  the 
load  of  responsibility  can  substantiate  my  words  in  that  regard.  In  the 
Coeur  d'Alene  country  I  want  to  say  that  we  are  co-operating  very 
harmoniously  and  satisfactorily  with  the  various  bureaus  of  the  Govern- 
ment) which  are  working  along  certain  lines,  and  certain  other  lines 
we  are  not  co-operating  on  so  harmoniously.  I  want  to  point  out  a  few 
details,  such  as  tfrese:  On  the  twelfth  of  this  month  there  was  held 
in  Wallace,  Idaho,  a  competition  in  the  rescue  methods  which  have 
been  sought  by  the  Government.  There  has  been  in  the  district  for  sev- 
eral years  a  rescue  crew,  so  called,  in  charge  of  a  foreman,  and  a  crew 
of  expert  instructors,  who  go  around  to  the  different  mines  and  drill 
the  men  in  rescue  work,  and  on  the  twelfth  of  this  month  there  was  held 
a  competition  at  Wallace,  in  which  eighteen  mines  participated,  and 
which  was  very  interesting.  The  mines  had  gone  to  considerable  ex- 
pense to  drill  these  teams  and  attach  them  to  this  duty,  and  very 
cheerfully  equipped  them  with  the  latest  apparatus  which  the  depart- 
ment recommends — pulmotors,  and  helmets,  and  other  apparatus  of 
technical  kind  which  I  cannot  think  of  at  present.  They  have  also,  in 
connection  with  the  forest  reserves,  a  system  whereby  the  lookouts 
locating  the  fires  have  only  to  telephone  the  nearest  mine  when  a  mine 
crew  will  be  detailed  for  that  duty,  and  sent  to  put  the  fire  out  under 
the  direction  of  the  forest  people. 

Now,  on  those  issues  and  similar  matters,  we  work  very  beauti- 
fully with  the  bureaus.  On  other  matters  we  are  at  loggerheads.  I 
might  mention  one  of  these,  and  that  is,  a  method  which  has  been 
modified  lately,  and  to  good  advantage,  I  think,  with  the  rise  of  the 
forest  reserve  situation.  We  found  there  that  in  securing  patents  for 
our  mineral  lands,  there  arose  a  situation  like  this:  Some  rule  or 
order  was  promulgated  somewhere,  whereby  we  were  prevented  from 
securing  a  patent  or  a  claim  passed  for  patent  until  the  forest,  reserve 
people  had  approved  the  validity  of  a  mining  location.  It  worked  out 
that  some  young  gentleman,  no  doubt  a  very  able  young  man  from 
the  forest  reserve  school  at  Yale,  or  some  other  part  of  the  country, 
who  had  never  worked  underground,  and  would  not  know  ore  if  he 
saw  it,  came  and  said,  "Gentlemen,  where  is  your  shipping  ore?" 
(Laughter.)  Lots  of  the  claims  d"id  not  have  any!  You  mining  men 
know  the  bulk  of  them  do  not.  For  years  it  resulted  in  the  hold-up  of 
a  great  many  meritorious  claims.  So  intense  was  the  indignation,  and 
so  just  the  protest,  that  the  department  has  finally  modified  that  prac- 
tice by  putting  in  those  places  competent  men,  and  have  thus  removed 
much  friction  in  that  regard. 

Perhaps  I  have  digressed  a  little  from  the  original  proposition  of 
safety,  but  it  all  comes  up  this  way:  The  main  point  I  wanted  to  get 
at  was  the  drift,  conscious  or  not,  into  laying  all  this  criticism  upon 
the  owner — whether  company  or  individual,  it  does  not  matter — without 


OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS     . 

regard  to  the  responsibility  on  the  other  side.  The  owner  has  done, 
from  my  point  of  view,  more  than  anybody  else.  He  pays  the  bills,  t«kes 
the  responsibility,  and  has  to  see  that  the  pay  roll  is  all  ready,  and 
waiting,  and  the  men,  engineers  and  all,  take  their  per  diem  and  walk 
away  with  it,  but  he  is  there  to  meet  the  thousand  and  one  trials  that 
come  upon  him. 

Now  I  contend,  gentlemen,  that  the  tendency  of  all  our  work  of 
late  years,  and  this  new  legislation,  has  been  to  shoulder  an  undue 
share  of  the  responsibility  on  the  employer,  the  fellow  who 
takes  the  long  chance,  and  this  tendency'  is  largely  responsible  for 
the  present  apathy  in  sections  of  the  West  in  the  mining  business  today. 
It  is  a  hazardous  business,  not  only  to  life  and  limb,  but  to  capital 
and  reputation;  and  if  you  are  going  to  weigh  down  the  industry  with 
an  enormous  handicap  of  legislation,  you  will  complicate  matters.  You 
must  pay  for  it  in  reduced  business.  Who  will  take  these  chances  and 
carry  the  load?  The  company  I  represent  today  employs  twelve  to 
fifteen  hundred  men,  and  we  report  to  fourteen  different  departments 
of  the  Government  in  detail.  Ten  or  twelve  years  ago  we  made  no 
such  reports  at  all.  It  complicates  the  matter  of  securing  capital,  of 
giving  the  investor  a  fair  return  for  his  money,  and  complicates  the 
mining  situation  with  all  his  relations,  with  his  business  and  with  the 
Government.  We  have  to  pay  a  big  price  for  these  things.  That  price 
should  be  distributed,  it  seems  to  me,  in  a  little  wider  range,  and  I 
want  to  call  attention  again  to  that  particular  matter  of  the  responsi- 
bility for  this  enormous  waste  of  human  life  and  limb,  which  the 
gentlemen  have  referred  to,  but  which  is  really  to  be  charged  to  the 
account  of  the  workman  himself.' 

Now,  ho\v  are  we  going  to  compel  them  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves, because  underground  the  man  must  take  care  of  himself.  I 
would  like  to  ask  Dr.  Hoffman,  who  spoke  last,  on  what  basis  his 
classification  per  thousand  accidents  is  made? 

DR.  HOFFMAN:  The  statistics  quoted  were  crude  rates  based 
upon  the  average  number  of  men  employed.  To  be  absolutely  correct, 
the  rates  should  have  been  reduced  to  a  standard  basis  of  three  hun- 
dred days'  v/ork.  In  the  comparison  made  such  a  correction,  however, 
would  not  have  very  materially  changed  the  rates  in  question.  It. 
however,  would  have  changed  the  comparison  materially  if  a  contrast 
had  been  presented  between  coal  and  metal  mines,  since  on  the  average 
the  working  time  in  coal  mines  is  probably  from  fifty  to  sixty  days  a 
year  less  than  in  metal  mines,  and  the  actual  time  of  risk  exposure  is, 
therefore,  less  per  annum  in  the  former  than  in  the  latter.  According  to  the 
U.  S.  Bureau  of  Mines,  during  1913  the  standardized  fatal  accident  rates, 
reduced  to  a  300-working-day  basis,  are  3.72  per  1,000  men  employed  for 
American  metal  mines,  and  4.70  for  American  coal  mines.  The  average 
working  time  during  1913  for  American  metal  mines  was  285  days,  and 
for  American  coal  mines,  238  days.-  The  respective  crude  rates — that 
is,  without  correction  for  differences  in  working  time — are  3.54  per  1,000 
men  employed  for  metal  mines,  and  3.73  for  coal  mines.  Since  there 
are  no  coal  mines  in  Colorado  or  Nevada,  it  would  not  seem  necessary 
in  the  present  case  to  reduce  the  crude  rates,  based  on  the  average 
number  employed,  to  the  standard  basis  of  300  days'  work. 

MR.  DAY:  That  is  the  information  that  I  sought.  I  believe  that 
the  figures  are  approximately  incorrect,  and  that  weighs  severely  on 
the  metal  mines;  for  that  reason,  I  can  only  speak  from  my  own  experi- 
ence, that  we  work  very  steadily  in  our  country;  we  average  three 
hundred  and  fifty  shifts  per  year.  We  shut  down  only  on  Christmas 
and  the  Fourth  of  July.  We  have  an  eight-hour  law,  and  our  men  do 
not  want  to  lay  off  on  Sunday. 

In  this  connection,  I  might  relate  an  incident  that  happened  to  a 
member  of  this  Congress,  Mr.  McCarthy,  President  of  the  Hecla^  Mine, 
employing  two  hundred  and  fifty  men.  Mr.  McCarthy  is  a  kind-hearted 
gentleman,  who  is^  desirous  of  doing  what  he  can  for  his  men.  He 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  73 

has  put  in  a  gymnasium,  and  the  mining  and  boarding  houses  are  fur- 
nished with  various  kinds  of  baths,  steam  heat,  hot  and  cold  water, 
electric  lights,  telephones,  and  just  about  as  much  as  anybody  would 
want — and  they  should  have  these  things,  for  they  are  good  men.  He 
took  a  vote  to  see  whether  they  would  shut  down  on  Sunday.  What 
do  you  imagine  was  the  result?  Ninety  per  cent  of  the  men  .were 
opposed  to  shutting  down  on  Sunday.  This  was  done  in  response  to 
a  protest  from  the  clergymen  of  the  district,  who  said  the  mining  men 
were  responsible  for  loss  of  interest  in  religious  matters,  and  those 
men  were  given  an  opportunity  to  decide  for  themselves  whether  or  not 
they  should  get  off  from  their  work  on  Sunday,  with  the  result  I  have 
indicated.  What  is  a  mine  manager  going  to  do  under  those  conditions? 
He  cannot  force  the  men  to  do  that.  If  he  shuts  down  the  works  on 
Sunday,  the  best  men  will  leave.  The  miner  wants  to  work  three  or 
six  months  or  a  year — and  commonly  a  year — and  then  go  and  take 
a  trip,  perhaps  to  the  fair,  or  some  place  that  suits  him;  but  he  does 
not  want  to  pay  board  for  seven  days  and  work  six. 

Those  are  practical  matters  with  me.  That  is  but  one,  but  we 
might  suggest  dozens  of  them  every  day,  and  it  seems  to  me  very 
largely  overlooked  by  the  gentlemen  who  are  so  keenly  interested  in 
all  these  matters. 

There  are  two  sides  in  all  these  things,  and  the  human  equation 
is  a  large  factor  in  it.  If  some  of  you  gentlemen  will  suggest — I  have 
devoted  much  attention  in  a  practical  way  to  this,  to  the  question  of 
how  to  discipline  the  men,  but  if  you  can  suggest  a  means  whereby 
the  men  can  be  brought  to  observe  the  rules  and  regulations,  I  should 
be  glad  to  hear  your  proposal.  In  the  mines  which  I  referred  to  in  the 
Coetir  d'Alene  country,  particularly  those  in  my  charge,  every  workman 
on  the  work  is  given  a  printed  set  of  the  rules  governing  his  work 
there.  He  is  made  to  read  it  in  the  presence  of  the  timekeeper,  and  to 
sign  it,  if  he  can,  and  must  state  that  he  has  read  and  understands  and 
agrees  to  carry  out  the  rules  to  his  best  ability.  It  does  not  amount 
to  anything,  because  we  cannot  enforce  it.  But  the  rules  are  the  result 
of  the  best  thought  of  the  best  mining  men  of  the  country  and  the 
various  bureaus  of  the  Government. 

I  did  not  mean  to  take  up  so  much  of  your  time,  but  I  have  given 
so  much  thought  and  attention  to  this  matter,  and  I  feel  so  strongly  upon 
the  subject,  that  I  had  to  get  it  off  my  chest!  (Laughter  and  applause.) 

MR.  WILSON:  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen,  I  feel  it  is  almost 
an  outrage  to  trespass  further  on  the  time  of  this  Congress,  but  as  the 
gentleman  who  has  just  spoken  asked  for  certain  information,  I  do  feel 
there  is  one  point  that  I  should  make  answer  to,  especially  in  behalf 
of  those  who  are  not  present,  but  who  are  perhaps  referred  to  in 
Mr.  Day's  assertion  that  the  scientific  men  who  are  discussing  ques- 
tions of  safety  in  mining  statistics  in  regard  to  mine  accidents  seem 
to  lay  all  the  burden  on  the  operator  and  overlook  the  fact  that  the 
miner  is  largely  responsible  for  these  accidents,  due  to  his  willful 
carelessness  and  criminal  negligence.  Were  those  not  the  words? 

MR.   DAY:     Yes,   I   think  they  were. 

MR.  WILSON:  Now,  as  the  speaker  also  said,  there  are  two 
sides  to  every  question,  and  there  are  two  sides  to  this  question.  He 
has  seen  one  side  of  it.-  He  appears  to  have  overlooked  the  fact  that, 
some  accidents  are  also  due  to  the  operators. 

As  to  the  charge  that  the  statisticians  have  laid  the  burden  of 
responsibility  of  accidents  on  the  mine  operator.  I  think  the  gentleman 
is  mistaken.  T  do  not  think  it  was  the  intention  of  any  one  of  these  men 
to  do  so;  certainly  not  the  men  in  the  Bureau  of  Mines.  In  their  studies 
they  always  appear  to  be  most  sympathetic  with  the  mine  operators,  as 
well  as  with  the  men  in  the  mines.  They  may  not  care  to  say  so,  but 
they  are  more  sympathetic,  in  many  cases,  I  believe.  I  am  "sure  that 
is  true  with  the  insurance  people  for  whom  Dr.  Hoffman  speaks,  because 
it  is  from  the  mine  operator  that  the  insurance  interests  expect  to 


74  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

get  their  business,  and  they  appreciate  his  side  much  more  than  they 
do  the  side  of  the  men  who  work  in  the  mines.  They  do  not  lay  the 
blame  on  the  operator.  I  believe  they  know  he  is  doing  the  most  he 
can,  as  the  speaker  said,  to  better  conditions  as  far  as  he  knows,  and 
in  that  statement  lies  the  crux  of  the  whole  proposition — in  so  far  as 
he  knows. 

In  the  case  of  great  mines  like  the  Anaconda,  which  the  speaker 
quotes,  it  goes  without  saying  that  the  mine  operators  have  done  all 
they  can  for  the  comfort  and  safety  of  the  men. 

The  best  examples  we  have  in  the  United  States  of  safety  for  the 
employe  are  to  be  found  in  the  U.  S.  Steel  Corporation.  I  will  not 
hesitate  to  laud  the  Steel  Corporation  here  or  anywhere.  They  are 
spending  nearly  a  million  dollars  annually  in  safety.  They  are  leading 
everybody  in  showing  how  to  be  safe  in  their  operations,  and  so  I  find 
it  also  even  in  the  much  abused  Rockefeller  mines  in  Colorado — the 
Colorado  Fuel  and  Iron  Company.  I  can  mention  a  number  of  the 
anthracite  coal  operations  where  this  is  also  true.  Surely  in  these 
cases  as  in  man}'-  others  it  is  an  absolute  fact  that  the  operators  are 
doing  everything  they  can  to  better  the  condition  of  the  worker. 

But  as  Dr.  Hoffman  said,  it  is  not  the  big  operation,  but  the  small 
operation,  where  the  trouble  lies.  The  ignorance  is  not  willful,  but 
simply  natural  ignorance.  I  have  met  foremen  and  superintendents  who 
talked  safety  all  the  time,  and  meant  it,  but  did  not  realize  the  means 
for  obtaining  that  .safety.  They  did  not  know  they  were  unsafe  in 
the  operation  of  their  mines. 

As  for  the  other  side  of  it,  the  mine  workers',  the  mine  worker  is 
the  chief  cause,  as  the  speaker  said,  of  accidents  in  mines.  He  accounts 
for  two-thirds  of  them  nearly.  Dr.  Hoffman  is  much  better  aware  of 
this  than  the  speaker,  because  he  is  a  great  statistician.  So,  also,  the 
Bureau  of  Mines  and  the  insurance  people  have  taken  account  of  these 
things  in  fixing  insurance .  rates.  There  is  always  an  allowance  made 
for  the  irreducible  minimum.  They  assume  that  the  physical  haza/rds 
of  the  mines  cannot,  as  you  may  know,  all  be  removed.  About  two- 
thirds  or  66  per  cent  of  the  causes  of  accidents  will  remain.  They  are 
due  to  the  hazards  of  the  industry,  not  to  the  physical  hazards  of  opera- 
tion. You  cannot,  in  other  words,  remove  more  than  one-third  or  one- 
half  of  the  accident  causes.  The  others  remain. 

These,  however,  are  due,  not,  as  the  last  speaker  said,  to  the 
willful  carelessness  and  criminal  negligence  of  the  employes,  but  to 
that  class  of  carelessness  which  we  are  all  guilty  of  at  times.  The 
gentleman,  himself,  if  he  owns  an  automobile,  probably  knows  the 
traffic  rules,  but  he  comes  to  a  policeman  at  the  street  corner  who  has 
his  hand  up,  indicating  that  the  driver  must  slow  up.  But  the  latter  is 
in  a  hurry,  and  he  thinks,  "Well,  I  will  take  a  chance  and  cut  by  this 
time,"  and  he  puts  on  speed  and  dashes  by  the  policeman,  and  hurts 
somebody!  (Laughter.)  He  will  do  a  hundred  things  thoughtlessly, 
carelessly — we  all  do.  I  do  them,  and  you  do  them,  because  we  are  not 
thinking  at$  the  moment,  or  I  decide  to  "take  a  chance."  I  do  not 
think  it  is  right,  therefore,  to  charge  the  miners  with  willful  carelessness 
every  time  they  do  the  wrong  thing,  as  they  so  often  do.  In  every 
industry  that  you  and  I  might  mention,  the  employes  every  day  of  their 
lives  take  chances  involving  their  own  safety  and  that  of  others,  and 
I  want  to  defend  them  only  to  the  extent  that  I  do  not  think  it  is  right 
to  charge  all  cases  with  criminal  or  willful  intent. 

DR.  HOFFMAN:  Mr.  President,  I  may  say  as  regards  the  cost 
of  compensation  and  its  relation  to  the  mining  industry,  that  it  prob- 
ably will  not  exceed  ten  cents  per  ton  of  ore  produced,  and  the  rate 
can  be  reduced  -considerably  if  the  management  will  put  into  operation 
mechanical  precautions  and  effective  safety  devices  that  will  make  a 
large  number  of  present-day  accidents  practically  impossible.  The  fact 
is  often  overlooked  that  a  man  who  works  every  day  at  exactly  the 
same  kind  of  hard  physical  toil  cannot  concern  himself  constantly  with 

/ 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  75 

matters  of  personal  care  and  safety  precaution.  Much  of  what  looks 
like  criminal  carelessness  or  recklessness  is  largely  a  matter  of  natural 
indifference  resulting  from  the  conditions  under  which  underground 
work  requires  to  be  done  from  eight  to  ten  hours  every  day  throughout 
the  year.  We  are  apt  to  err  seriously  in  our  interpretation  of  the  terms 
of  thought  in  which  workingmen  view  their  relations  to  the  hazardous 
work  that  requires  to  be  done.  I  have  discussed  this  matter  with 
hundreds  of  men  underground,  and  have  observed  them  carefully  over 
and  over  again,  and  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  would  be 
utterly  impossible  for  them  to' do  their  work,  and  to  do  it  in  the  way 
in  which  it  alone  can  be  effectively  done,  if  they  were  to  be  constantly 
aware  of  the  ever-present  possibilities  of  an  accident,  from  the  most 
insignificant  to  the  most  serious  and  fatal.  Many  of  the  accidents  that 
occur  are,  properly  speaking,  inherent  in  the  industry,  or  in  the  condi- 
tions under  which  the  work  is  done,  with  a  due  regard  to  economic 
considerations.  Many  of  the  accidents,  however,  are  directly  attributable 
to  indifference  on  the  part  of  the  management  in  permitting  the  con- 
tinuance of  conditions  which  are  obviously  an  encouragement  to  the 
taking  of  chances  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  occurrence  of  accidents  on 
the  other.  As  I  have  said  before,  I  have  observed  for  myself  the 
neglect  in  the  case  of  ladders,  which  often  fall  lamentably  short  of  even 
primitive  safety-first  considerations.  The  foremen  knew  the  ladders  to 
be  bad,  the  general  manager  also  knew  the  facts,  but  the  responsibility 
is  placed  upon  the  workman,  and  under  the  old  employers'  liability 
law  the  consequences  of  managerial  indifference  would  be  made  to  fall 
upon  him  alone.  It  is  easy  enough  to  say  that  a  man  ought  to  have 
known  better  than  to  take  chances,  but  it  is  all  in  the  day's  work,  and 
the  first  and  fundamental  duty  of  accident  prevention  rests  upon  the 
management.  Until  within  very  recent  years  few  underground  workmen 
were  thoroughly  instructed  in  safety-first  principles — in  fact,  the  taking 
of  chances  was  rather  looked  upon  as  praiseworthy  and  deserving  of 
special  recognition.  I  do  not  hesitate  to  put  myself  on  record  in  the 
statement  that  it  is  wrongful  and  extremely  dangerous  for  any  man- 
agement to  shift  the  responsibility  for  mine  accidents  upon  the  work- 
man, who  no  doubt  is  often  to  blame  in  the  taking  of  needless  risks,  but 
the  taking  of  such  chances  can  be  made  practically  impossible  by  more 
careful  underground  supervision  and  a  more  general  installation  of 
approved  safety  devices.  Much  has  been  done  within  recent  years 
to  raise  the  character  of  the  men  and  to  interest  underground  employes 
particularly  in  matters  other  than  wages  and  hours  of  labor.  I  wish, 
on  this  occasion  to  pay  a  tribute  to  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Mines,  and 
the  late  Dr.  Holmes,  in  having  done  infinitely  more  in  a  very  few  years  ( 
in  the  raising  of  the  morale  and  intelligence  of  the  men  working  in  the 
mines  than  the  mining  companies  have  done  in  the  entire  history  of 
the  industry.  I  have  reference  here  chiefly  to  first-aid  and  systematic 
training  in  rescue  work.  It  must  never  be  forgotten,  and  the  fact  cannot 
be  too  often  put  on  record,  that  the  modern  safety-first  movement  in 
mines  practically  coincides  with  the  advent  of  workmen's  compensation 
legislation,  and  that  the  best  work  in  the  direction  of  accident  preven- 
tion and  improved  sanitation  has  been  done  in  the  States  where  work- 
men's compensation  law  has  placed  the  responsibility  for  carelessness 
and  indifference  directly  upon  the  mine  operator,  where  it  belongs.  It 
is  largely  to  the  credit  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Mines  that  modern  safety 
and  rescue  work  in  this  country  has  been  raised  to  a  standard  compar- 
able with  the  best  that  is  being  done  in  European  countries,  but  it  also 
requires  to  be  said  that  the  admirable  results  would  not  have  been 
attained  but  for  the  hearty  co-operation  on  the  part  of  mine  managers 
and  mining^ men.  Within  a  few  years  we  have  developed  in  this  country 
perhaps  as  fine  a  group  of  mine  rescue  teams  as  is  to  be  found  any- 
where in  the  world,  and  no  words  of  mine  can  adequately  express  my 
belief  that  by  this  effort  alone  the  moral  level,  the  moral  standard  and 
ideals  of  mine  employes  have  been  materially  raised  to  a  point  where 


76  OFFICIAL    PROCEEDINGS 

it  may  safely  be  asserted  that  the  miners  themselves  are  doing  their 
share  to  prevent  needless  accidents  to  life  and  limb,  or  needless  property 
destruction  caused  by  their  carelessness.  In  the  light  of  my  own 
extended  experience,  and  personal  acquaintance  with  miners  throughout 
the  country,  I  am  absolutely  convinced  that  these  men,  as  a  class, 
cannot  be  charged  with  criminally  imperiling  their  own  or  other  men's 
lives,  or  the  property  interests  with  which  they  are  connected.  I  repeat, 
that  in  my  opinion  the  primary  responsibility  for  the  majority  of 
underground  accidents  rests  with  the  management  and  not  with  the  men. 
(Applause.) 

MR.  DAY:  Mr.  Chairman,  possibly  I  may  have  the  privilege  of 
just  a  few  moments  in  closing.  The  gentleman  seems  to  misapprehend 
me  somewhat.  I  have  no  intention  of  criticising  the  work  of  the  Bureau, 
but  to  point  out— and  their  own  figures  substantiate  it,  and  their  own 
assertions — that  two-thirds  of  these  accidents  are  caused  by  the  care- 
lessness, willful  or  criminal,  of  the  men  themselves.  I  think  that  we 
all  appreciate  the  good  work  that  has  been  done.  We  are  all  here 
to  testify  to  it,  and  have  been  co-operating  with  it  for  years.  Regard* 
less  of  what  the  gentleman  has  observed,  I  want  to  reaffirm  my  original 
declaration  from  experience  as  a  prospector  and  mining  man — for  thirty 
years  a  practical  man,  believing  I  know  what  I  am  talking  about.  I  do 
not  go  underground  in  my  properties  once  without  finding  the  best 
miners  in  the  world  willfully  violating  the  rules,  and  I  call  them  down 
in  no  uncertain  language,  and  they  laugh  and  say,  "It  is  on  us.  We 
didn't  know  you  were  coming  around."  I  find  them  working  under 
loose  ground,  or  carrying  a  bar  close  up  against  a  trolley  wire,  but  if 
the  bar  would  touch  the  trolley  wire  for  an  instant  it  would  probably 
mean  death  to  the  man  carrying  it. 

DR.   HOFFMAN:     Why  call  that  willful  or  criminal? 

A  DELEGATE:     What  is  it,  if  it  is  not  willful  or  criminal? 

DR.  HOFFMAN:     Ignorance. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  The  gentlemen  are  digressing  and  en- 
gaging in  general  discussion,  whereas  one  gentleman  who  has  the  floor 
should  maintain  it  and  finish.  There  should  be  no  interruptions. 

MR.  DAY:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  going  to  stop  right  now,  not 
because  I  have  no  more  to  say,  but  because  there  is  no  time  to  continue 
this  discussion  longer.  I  thank  you.  (Applause.) 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  President,  we  have  a  num- 
ber of  resolutions  here  that  need  attention.  We  have  another  paper 
that  ought  to  be  heard,  and  it  is  long  after  the  time  of  adjournment. 
Shall  we  adjourn  and  have  another  session  this  afternoon,  or  cut  off 
the  debate  at  this  point,  proceed  with  our  program,  and  finally  adjourn 
at  the  end  of  the  present  session? 

MR.  ELDRIDGE:     I  move  we  adjourn  to  meet  at  2:30. 

The  motion  was  seconded. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Before  the  motion  is  put,  I  would  like 
to  say  that  the  discussions  this  morning  have  been  very  interesting, 
and  it  is  quite  gratifying  to  me  that  we  are  exceeding  our  program,  but 
I  want  to  be  dead  sure  that  we  will  have  an  attendance,  and  in  order 
to  be  quite  sure  that  is  the  case,  I  am  going  to  ask  for  a  rising  vote, 
and  all  gentlemen  who  rise  and  are  not  here  will  be  duly  penalized! 

All  the  gentlemen  who  will  attend  this  afternoon's  session  at  2:30 
will  please  rise  to  their  feet. 

A  rising  vote  was  thereupon  taken. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Those  who  will  not  be  here  this  after- 
noon will  please  rise. 

A  DELEGATE:  Let's  continue  in  session  and  finish  up  the 
business. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  If  that's  agreeable,  we  will  continue  in 
session,  and  make  our  remarks  as  short  as  possible,  and  get  through. 

A  DELEGATE:  Mr.  President,  I  just  want  to  coincide  with  the 
remarks  of  the  gentleman.  I  believe  this  "safety-first"  movement  has 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  7? 

been  one  of  the  greatest  things  the  mining  industry  has  had;  it  has  been, 
a  Godsend,  in  that  operators,  as  well  as  men,  for  the  past  two  or  three 
years,  have  taken  it  upon  themselves  to  look  into  these  questions,  doing 
all  in  their  power  to  prevent  accidents.  But,  as  the  speaker  to  my 
left  remarked,  we  find  it  is  a  fact  that  the  great  majority  of  accidents 
are  due,  not  to  the  negligence  of  the  operator,  but  to  the  carelessness 
of  the  miner. 

Now,  as  to  a  remedy:  We  go  so  far  as  saying,  "If  you  will  let  us 
make  the  mine  'foolproof,'  accidents  will  be  minimized."  Now,  that 
is  the  slogan  that  a  great  many  mines  or  operators  are  using  today, 
making  their  mines  "foolproof,"'  but  even  at  that,  at  the  end  of  the  year 
we  find  accidents,  and  if  we  will  look  over  the  causes  of  those  accidents 
on  the  reports,  as  you  say,  we  w'ill  find  60  per  cent  of  them  are  due 
to  the  carelessness  of  the  miner,  and  it  is  a  question,  and  I  am  glad 
that  it  was  raised,  what  to  do  to  eliminate  the  carelessness  and  negli- 
gence of  the  miner. 

I  would  like  to  hear  more  on  that  point,  because  it  is  one  of  the 
things  we  should  get  at — how  to  avoid  accidents,  how  we  shall  avoid 
accidents  so  as  to  reduce  the  negligence  and  carelessness  of  the  miner 
to  a  minimum. 

PRESIDENT  SCP1OLZ:  Gentlemen,  we  will  now  hear  the  report 
of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  Resolution  No.  4,  introduced  by  Charles 
L.  Dignowity.  The  Committee  recommend  that  the  resolution  do  not 
pass. 

A   DELEGATE:     Can  we  hear  it  read? 

THE  SECRETARY:     Read  the  resolution. 

DR.  HOFFMAN:  The  Committee  believe  that  general  State  laws 
are  being  passed,  and  the  past  recommendations  of  this  Congress  are 
sufficient  without  this  resolution. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     What  is  your  pleasure,  gentlemen? 

MR.  UTTER:  I  move  that  the  report  of  the  Committee  be  ap- 
proved. 

The  motion  was  seconded,   duly  put  and  carried. 

PRESIDENT    SCHOLZ:      It   is   so   ordered. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  Resolution  No.  5,  introduced  by  E.  L. 
Bartholomew.  Your  Committee  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  resolu- 
tion. 

I  move  the  report  of  the  Committee  be  accepted. 

The  motion  was  seconded,  put  and  carried. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  The  subject  matter  of  Resolution  No.  6, 
introduced  by  Mr.  A.  G.  Mackenzie,  has  been  included  in  Resolution 
No.  7,  and  your  Committee  therefore  recommend  that  it  be  tabled. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  I  move  you,  Mr.  President,  the  report  of 
the  Committee  be  accepted. 

The  motion   was  seconded  and  carried. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  Resolution  No.  7,  by  Dr.  W.  B.  Phillips. 
Your  Committee  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  resolution.  I  move  the 
adoption  of  the  report. 

The  motion  was  duly  put  and  carried. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  Resolution  No.  9,  introduced  by  Rush  C. 
Butler,  of  Chicago.  Your  Committee  recommend  the  adoption  of  this 
resolution,  and  further  recommend  that  the  Board  of  Directors  consider 
the  wisdom  of  placing  on  the  program  of  the  1916  Convention  the  ques- 
tion of  the  creation  by  Congress  of  a  .permanent  non-partisan  tariff 
board  to  investigate  and  recommend  measures  as  will  protect  the  mining 
and  chemical  industries. 

Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  recommendations  of  the  Commit- 
tee, and  its  resolution. 

v    A  DELEGATE:     I  move  the  report  of  the  Committee  be  adopted. 

The  motion  was  thereupon  duly  put  and  carried. 


78    .  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

JUDGE    RICHARDS:      Resolution    No.    10,    introduced    by    Carl 
Scholz,   of   Chicago.     Your   Cofnmittee   recommend  its  adoption. 
MR.   WILSON:     I   move   the   adoption   of   the   report. 
The  motion  was   seconded,   put    and   carried. 
PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     It  is  so  ordered. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Resolution  No.  11  has  been  in- 
troduced by  Mr.  John  P.  Reese.  I  will  read  the  resolution. 

Resolution  No.  11,  Introduced  by  John  P.  Reese,  Gillespie,  Illinois. 

Whereas,  The  coal  industry  of  many  of  the  eastern  and  cen- 
tral States  have  wage  contracts  which  expire  on  March  31st  next; 
and 

Whereas,  The  consumers  of  coal  have  frequently  been  greatly 
inconvenienced  and  unnecessarily  financially  burdened  as  a  result  of 
the  delay  and  uncertainty  in  connection  with  the  making  of  new 
contracts;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  By  the  American  Mining  Congress,  in  Eighteenth 
Annual  Convention  assembled,  That  the  officers  of  the  Coal  Oper- 
ators' Association  and  the  Miners'  Unions  in  the  States  and  dis- 
tricts affected  be  requested  to  open  negotiations  for  a  new  con- 
tract not  later  than  January  1,  1916,  with  a  view  of  saving  the 
consumer  the  unnecessary  burden  of  stocking  coal. 

DR.  HOFFMAN:  As  it  is  too  late  for  the  Committee  on  Reso- 
lutions to  consider  that,  I  move  you  the  suspension  of  the  rules,  and 
that  the  house  itself  pass  on  it. 

Mr.   Wilson    seconded   the   motion. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  resolu- 
tion. What  is  your  pleasure? 

The  question  was  called  for. 
The  motion  was  thereupon  put  and  carried. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  What  is  your  further  pleasure  with 
regard  to  the  resolution? 

MR.  WILSON:     I  move  its  adoption. 

A  DELEGATE:  I  take  it  the  resolution  is  satisfactory  to  the  coal 
men  present. 

The  motion  was  thereupon  duly  put  and  carried. 
A  DELEGATE:     Mr.  Chairman,  if  in  order,  I  would  like  to  offer  a 
little  bit  of  a  resolution  that  will  cause  no  debate. '  If  you  can  get  some 
suspension  of  the  rules,  I  would  like  to  have  it  done. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  All  right,  we  would  like  to  comply. 
A  DELEGATE:  The  discussion  has  developed  a  fact  of  great 
interest  this  morning,  that  certain  mine  operators  are  receiving  from 
the  National  and  State  Governments  together  some  fourteen  ques- 
tionaires  which  must  be  answered.  That's  a  very  serious  matter,  and 
one  due  to  many  things,  and  particularly  due  to  the  fact  that  the  mine 
operators  insist  that  the  questionaires  sent  into  one  branch  of  the 
Government  shall  not  be  used  in  another  branch.  For  example,  a 
statement  to  one  bureau  shall^  not  be  used  by  the  Internal  Tax  Commis- 
sion or  Bureau  of  Corporations;  therefore  those  bureaus  must  send 
out  others.  Fourteen  questionaires  is  outrageous!  Therefore,  I  would 
move  the  appointment  of  a  small  special  committee  of  this  Congress  to 
co-operate  with  the  National  Government  in  reducing  the  number  of 
inquiries  to  be  sent  out  to  the  members — a  committee  of,  say,  three,  to 
be  appointed  by  the  chair. 

A  DELEGATE:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  take  pleasure  in  seconding  that, 
provided  I  be  not  put  on  the  committee.  I  really  believe  there  is  a 
chance  to  simplify  matters  a  little  by  standardizing  the  form. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Chairman,  permit  me  to  say 
we  already  have  a  committee  working  on  that  very  subject,  in  the  hope 
of  not  only  standardizing  the  reports  to  the  Federal  Government,  but 
•also  the  varrious  States,  and  expecting  the  States  to  adjust  their  require- 
ments so  as  to  make  one  report  from  one  company  at  one  time  to  meet 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  79 

both  State  and  National  requirements.  I  think  that  committee  fully 
covers  the  suggestion. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  If  the  Major  insists,  we  will  put  it  to 
the  house. 

A  DELEGATE:     No,  it  is  taken  care  of  already. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ-  Absolutely;  it  has  been  worked  out 
quite  a  while. 

I  want  to  apologize  to  one  gentleman  in  the  room  who  was  not 
here  v/hen  called  on,  and  to  whom  I  think  we  owe  a  great  deal.  I  have 
never  met  the  gentleman  before,  but  his  work  stands  out  pre-eminently, 
and  has  proven  as  inspiration  to  the  ^mining  industry.  I  refer  to 
Mr.  Otto  Ruhl,  of  Missouri.  If  I  can  ask  indulgence  for  at  least  three 
or  four  minutes,  I  am  sure  the  time  will  be  well  spent  if  Mr.  Ruhl  will 
give  us  at  least  a  brief  resume  of  his  address,  with  the  expectation  of 
having  it  supplemented,  and  an  enlargement  to  be  printed  in  the 
proceedings. 

MR.  RUHL:  Mr.  Chairman,  it  is  so  late  at  this  time,  that  I  think 
it  would  be  wise  not  to  trespass  on  the  time  of  the  members  any  fur- 
ther, and  the  proceedings  of  the  Congress  will  be  published,  and  at  that 
time,  if  the  members  are  interested,  they  may  read  it  in  the  report.  It 
is  after  1  o'clock,  and  I  know  the  directors  of  this  Congress  have  a 
scheduled  meeting  at  1  o'clock,  and  there  are  a  number  of  other  things 
to  be  taken  up  this  afternoon  at  the  exposition,  which  will  necessitate 
my  getting  back,  so  I  think  I  shall  simply  refer  my  paper  to  the 
proceedings. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  Secretary,  I  will  call  on  you  for  the 
minutes  of  the  meeting  last  night,  including  the  election  of  directors. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  We  had  last  evening  the  most 
interesting  session  of  any  members'  meeting  that  I  have  attended  for 
ten  years.  We  elected  as,  directors  for  three  years:  Dr.  James  E. 
Talmage,  of  Utah;  Mr.  Charles  M.  Moderwell,  of  Illinois;  Mr.  Harry 
L.  Day,  of  Idaho;  Dr.  William  B.  Phillips,  of  Colorado. 

The  place  for  holding  the  next  convention  of  the  American  Mining 
Congress  was  discussed,  and  whether  a  mining  show  shall  be  held  in 
connection  with  it.  The  Board  of  Directors  was  requested  to  make 
Chicago  the  place  of  holding  the  convention  anjd  the  proposed  mining 
show.  It  was  decided  to  hold  a  mining  show  in  connection  with  the 
convention  at  Chicago  next  year.  This  is  planned  to  be  a  great  educa- 
tional exhibit,  through  which  we  may  carry  to  the  people  at  large  a 
better  understanding  of  the  economic  conditions  underlying  the  mining 
industry. 

A  word  regarding  the  banquet  this  evening  at  the  Palace  Hotel 
in  honor  of  Mr.  Van  Manning,  the  new  Director  of  the  Bureau  of 
Mines:  There  is  a  big  time  promised,  and  some  excellent  speakers, 
and  we  want  you  all  there.  Then  we  want  you  to  report  at  the  Palace 
Hotel,  or  indicate  by  phone,  whom  you  would  like  to  sit  with,  at  the 
banquet  table.  Mr.  Wilson  is  in  charge  of  the  seating  of  guests,  and 
if  you  do  not  advise  him,  you  may  not  be  seated  as  you'  desire.  Mr. 
Wilson  will  see  that  your  suggestions  are  complied  with  as  far  as 
possible. 

MR.  WILSON:  Mr.  Chairman,  one  other  announcement  I  should 
like  to  make,  in  the  absence  of  anyone  from  the  Bureau  of  Mines  to 
make  it:  A  project  which  was  very  dear  to  the  heart  of  Dr.  Holmes, 
and  was  one  he  was  most  anxious  should  be  gone  ahead  with,  and  it  is 
one  I  am  sure  will  be  carried  out  by  his  successors,  is  the  holding  of 
a  great  second  National  Mine  Safety  Demonstration  similar  to  the  one 
held  in  Pittsburgh  in  1911.  It  is  proposed  that  this  shall  be  held  in 
Pittsburgh  in  September  or  October  of  next  year,  1916,  on  the  occasion 
of  the  dedication  of  the  great  group  of  new  buildings  which  are  being 
erected  there  to  house  the  Bureau  of  Mines.  I  have  no  doubt  you  will 
receive  invitations  to  attend  such  a  demonstration  in  due  time.  If 


80  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

you  have   not   fixed  your  dates   definitely  in   Chicago,   it   might  be  well 
for  you  to  consider  the  matter  that  I  have  just  suggested. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Wilson,  will  you  also  repeat 
the  invitation  to  our  members  to  attend  the  safety  exercises  here 
tomorrow? 

MR.  WILSOX:  Tomorrow  at  9  in  the  morning,  and  again  at 
2  in  the  afternoon,  will  be  held  the  annual  interstate  mine  rescue 
and  first  aid  contests,  on  the  north  park  just  facing  the  Golden  Gate, 
to  the  north  of  the  Mines  and  Metallurgy  Building.  There  will  be  about 
twenty-three  first  aid  teams,  representing  about  twelve  different  States 
in  the  Union,  and  eleven  mine  rescue  teams,  representing,  I  think,  nine 
States,  which  will  compete  for  the  privilege  of  entering  the  contests 
of  the  second  day — day  after  tomorrow — for  the  national  prizes,  cups 
and  medals  which  the  National  Safety  Council,  the  California  Metal 
Producers"  Association  and  other  institutions  have  offered.  So  the  day 
after  tomorrow,  at  the  same  hours,  9  and  2,  will  be  the  final  tests 
between  these  different  crews  for  skill  in  mine  safety,  rescue  and  first 
aid  work.  Following  the  contests  there  will  be  a  demonstration  of  the 
explosion  of  coal  dust  in  a  large  gallery  .similar  to  a  mine  tunnel,  125 
feet  long  and  6  feet  in  diameter. 

Final!}',  Friday  evening,  at  8  o'clock,  in  Recital  Hall  in  the  Festival 
Palace,  the  announcement  of  the  winners  of  these  medals  and  prizes 
will  be  made,  and  they  will  be  awarded.  Everybody  is  invited  to 
attend. 

MR.  MACKENZIE:  I'  would  like  to  have  the  Secretary  include 
a  reproduction  of  the  map  on  the  wall  in  the  printed  report,  if  there  is 
no  objection. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  It  has  been  already  discussed,  Mr. 
Mackenzie,  and  taken  care  of.  Is  there  any  further  business  to  come 
before  the  Congress? 

MR.  WHITE:     Can  copies  of  the  map  be  gotten? 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  They  will  be  included  in  the  proceed- 
ings. 

MR.  WHITE:  No,  but  if  we  want  to  take  away  from  here  to 
the  varfous  States  from  which  we  came? 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  I  think  Mr.  Eldridge,  who  provided  that 
map,  is  not  in  the  room,  but  he  will  be  here  later,  and  can  answer 
that  question.  I  think,  however,  that  copies  can  be  obtained,  because 
it  is  a  blueprint,  and  can  be  reproduced. 

MR.  TALMAGE:  Mr.  President,  as  the  time  for  adjournment  has 
practically  arrived,  I  move  that  the  American  Mining  Congress  extend 
to  the  President  and  Secretary  of  this  organization  our  hearty  thanks 
for  the  skill,  consideration,  courtesy,  and  generally  excellent  manner  in 
which  they  have  conducted  the  proceedings  of  this  association. 

The  motion  was   seconded  by  a  number  of  delegates. 

DR.  TALMAGE:     It  being  in  order,  I  undertake  to  put  the  motion. 

The  motion  was  thereupon  duly  put  to  the  convention  by  Dr. 
Talmage,  and  was  unanimously  carried. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Gentlemen,  I  certainly  thank  you,  and 
appreciate  the  kind  remarks  by  Dr.  Talmage,  as  manifested  by  the 
unanimous  vote  for  the  Secretary,  the  officers,  and  last  and  least,  myself. 

If  there  is  no  further  business  to  come  before  the  house,  we  will 
now  conclude  the  business  session,  to  resume  at  7  o'clock  the  pleasur- 
able part  of  this  Congress. 

Whereupon  the  last  business  session  of  the  eighteenth  annual 
session  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  was  adjourned  sine  die,  at  1:15 
o'clock. 

MEETING   OF   MEMBERS. 
Tuesday,  September  21,  1915,  8  P.  M. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  American  Mining  Con- 
gress was  called  to  order  by  President  Scholz  in  Parlor  C,  first  floor, 
Palace  Hotel,  San  Francisco",  Cal. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  81 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Gentlemen,  please  be  in  order.  Will  the 
members  please  come  forward  in  the  room?  Is  there  a  quorum  present? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  There  is  a  quorum  present.  Be- 
sides those  who  are  present,  there  are  in  my  hands  one  hundred  and 
eighty-six  represented  by  proxies  and  there  are  four  or  five  others  who 
hold  proxies. 

How  many  have  you,  Mr.  Mackenzie? 

MR.   MACKENZIE:      I   think  I  have  eight  or  nine. 

SECRETARY   CALLBREATH:     Has  anybody  else  any  proxies? 

MR.  MACKENZIE:     Do  you  need  them? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  No,  I  just  want  to  know  if  you 
have  them. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  We  will  now  read  the  minutes  of  the 
last  meeting. 

The  Secretary  read  the  minutes  of  a  meeting  of  the  Executive 
Committee  held  at  Kansas  City,  January  28,  1915. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  minutes 
of  the  last  meeting.  What  is  your  pleasure? 

MR.  WELLS:     I  move  they  be  approved  as  read. 

The  motion  was  seconded  by  Judge   Richards. 

The  motion  wyas  thereupon   duly  put  and  carried. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  It  is  so  ordered.  The  next  thing  on 
the  order  of  business  is  the  report  by  the  Secretary. 

Secretary  Callbreath  presented  his  annual  financial  report,  as  fol- 
lows: 

AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS. 
Secretary's  Financial  Report,  December  1,  1914-August  30,  1915. 

Cash  on  hand  December  1,  1914 $  3,087.79 

RECEIPTS. 

Membership    fees     $    418.00 

Membership    dues    2,422.55 

Advertising 3,646.40 

Special  contributions  6,777.37 

Associate  memberships    1,295.00 

Miscellaneous  (including  interest  on  deposits,  etc.) ....      856.78 


Total  receipts    15,416.10 

Total  to  be  accounted  for .- $18,503.89 

EXPENDITURES. 

Secretary's  salary,  August,  1912-April,  1913 $4,000.00 

Secretary's   traveling  expense 1,389.92 

Assistant  Secretary's  salary  and  traveling  expense...  1,690.86 

Printing  and  engraving 3,168.53 

Advertising  men,  Mining  Congress  Journal 2,996.56 

Stenographic  and  office  help 1,324.95 

Editing  Mining  Congress  Journal. 984.82 

Rent  (Washington  and  Denver  offices) 645.00 

Telephone   and   telegraph 1 19.32 

Auditing  accounts,   reporting    convention,   and   freight 

on  furniture    339.50 

Office   equipment    232.75 

Postage 401.45 

Richard    L.    Humphrey    (balance    due    as    Director    of 

First   Mining  Show.   Philadelphia,  1913) 546.41 

Office  supplies  127.75 

Miscellaneous,  including  Douglas  luncheon,  etc 146.32 

Total   expenditures $18,114.14 


Cash  on  hand  August  31,  1915 $389.75 

Expense  covered  by  vouchers       60-297     Metropolitan  Bank. 


82  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

Expense  covered  by  vouchers         1-111     Munsey  Bank. 
Expense  covered  by  vouchers   1354-1367  Denver  Bank. 

In  Metropolitan  Bank $304.32 

In  Munsey  Bank 78.53 

In   Denver  Bank 6.90 


$389.75 
Respectfully  submitted, 

J.  F.  CALLBREATH,  Secretary. 
HOWARD  C.  BECK  &  COMPANY. 
CERTIFIED  PUBLIC  ACCOUNTANTS. 
Riggs  Building,  Washington,  D.  C. 

September  10,   1915. 

We  hereby  certify  that  we  have  examined  the  books  and  accounts 
of  the  American  Mining  Congress,  J.  F.  Callbreath,  Secretary,  covering 
the  period  from  December  1,  1914,  to  August  31,  1915,  and  find  that  the 
total  transactions  were  as  follows,  all  disbursements  being  evidenced  by 
proper  vouchers  and  canceled  checks: 

Cash  on  hand  December  1,  1914 $  3,087.79 

Receipts    15,416.10 


Total  to  be  accounted  for $18.503.89 

Disbursements    18,114.14 


Cash  on  hand  August  31,  1915 $389.75 

National   Metro.   Bank,  Washington,   D.   C $304.32 

Munsey  Trust  Company,  Washington,  D.   C 78.53 

First   National    Bank,   Denver,    Colo 6.90 


$389.75 

As  per  bank  pass  book  and  statements,  less  outstanding  checks. 

We  also  find  that  the  books  have  been  well  and  accurately  kept. 
The  balance  due  the  Secretary  for  his  salary  account  to  September  1, 
1915,  is  $13,700.00. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

HOWARD  C.  BECK  &  CO., 
By  Howard  C.  Beck,  Certified  Public  Accountant. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  report 
of  the  Secretary. 

MR.  BULKELEY  WELLS:  Mr.  President  I  move  you  the  finan- 
cial report  of  the  Secretary,  as  read,  be  accepted  and  approved. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:     I  second  the  motion. 

The  motion  was  thereupon  duly  put. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  be  grati- 
fied, and  I  think,  no  matter  how  much  confidence  you  have  in  me,  that 
these  accounts  should  be  gone  over  by  some  one  in  your  behalf.  I 
might  say  I  made  this  request  last  year  in  Phoenix,  and  a  committee 
was  appointed,  but  some  member  moved  that  the  report  be  approved 
anyway,  and  that  resolution  was  passed.  Later  the  committee  made 
a  report  approving  the  account.  If  that  is  not  done,  and  I  hope  it  will 
be,  I  would  like  you  gentlemen  to  know  exactly  how  these  accounts 
are  kept.  All  the  money  is  paid  out  by  checks.  The  vouchers  are 
numbered  consecutively  and  each  paid  with  a  check  of  the  same  number. 
The  paid  check  is  filed  with  the  voucher.  At  the  end  of  each  month  a 
financial  statement  is  sent  to  the  President,  showing  the  receipts  of 
the  prior  month,  and  a  statement  of  the  disbursements,  together  with 
a  duplicate  of  the  vouchers  upon  which  the  checks  are  paid,  so  that  the 
President  is  at  all  times  kept  in  touch  with  the  business  affairs  of  the 
Congress.  I  have  here  all  the  original  vouchers,  the  original  monthly 
statements,  and  the  bank  statements  showing  the  balances,  so  that  it 
will  be  easy  for  a  committee  to  examine  the  report. 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  83 

Judge  Richards  then  called  for  the  question. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  You  have  heard  the  motion.  What  is 
your  pleasure?  I 

The  motion  was  thereupon  duly  put  and  carried. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  I  will  say  that  these  reports  come  to 
my  hands  very  regularly  every  month,  and  are  gone  over,  and  if  there 
is  any  "divvy  up"  going  on,  I  am  in  on  it,  so  I  don't  know  that  I  care 
to  have  them  examined.  If  you  will,  therefore,  accept  the  Secretary's 
word,  that  let's  me  out!  (Laughter.)  I  might  add  there  is  one  account 
not  included  because  not  received.  There  are  several  for  that  matter. 
One  is  from  the  Indiana  operators  which  has  not  yet  been  received. 

SECRETARY   CALLBREATH:     It  has   since  been   paid. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     But  not  included  in  this  account? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  This  covers  the  accounts  up  to 
the  first  of  September,  and  those  other  receipts  accounts  from  the  Crip- 
ple Mine  Operators'  Association  and  the  Indiana  coal  operators  are 
included  in  the  present  month's  receipts  but  not  included  in  this  state- 
ment. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  There  is  one  further  contribution  to  be 
made  by  the  State  of  Nevada,  which  Mr.  Friedman,  who  was  in  my 
office  a  week  ago  today,  told  me  would  reach  us  within  thirty  days,  or 
before,  if  he  could  get  home  before  that,  so  I  hope  we  will  start  out  the 
New  Year  with  a  substantial  surplus  in  our  treasury. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  May  I  say,  gentlemen,  while  we 
are  here,  the  Mining  Congress  Journal  has  been  a  source  of  great  burden 
to  us  this  year.  It  was  proposed  to  establish  it  starting  the  first  of  Jan- 
uary, and  when  I  got  back  from  the  Phoenix  meeting  late  in  December, 
to  get  out  a  journal  of  any  pretense  in  the  month  of  January  was  a  very 
difficult  task.  Our  first  assistant  editor  was  not  satisfactory,  but  the 
second  guess,  I  believe,  has  brought  out  the  best  man  in  the  United 
States  for  the  particular  work  we  want  him  to  do;  that  is,  to  get  the 
news  from  the  departments  and  bureaus  at  Washington,  which  have 
to  do  with  mining,  and  get  it  to  you  at  the  time  you  want  it.  The  pres- 
ent month's  Journal  carries  a  report  on  the  oil  investigation  which  will 
probably  not  be  printed  for  several  months.  Some  newspapers  will  be 
grieved  that  they  did  not  find  this  first,  but  they  did  not,  and  this  is  the 
only  publication  of  this  report.  We  want  the  Journal  to  carry  this  news 
to  you,  and  as  promptly  as  possible,  and  I  think"  that  no  better  man 
can  be  found  than  Mr.  Paul  Wooten,  the  gentleman  now  on  the  job,  and 
I  hope  that  you  will  all  be  satisfied  with  and  fully  support  the  Journal. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  deficit  in  publishing  the  Journal  the  year's  finan- 
cial showing  would  have  been  very  satisfactory. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  The  next  in  order  of  business  is  the 
election  of  a  Nominating  Committee,  to  nominate  five  directors,  one  to. 
serve  for  a  period  of  one  year  to  fill  vacancy,  and  four  to  serve  for  a 
term  of  three  years,  to  succeed  D.  W.  Brunton,  George  H.  Dern,  Falcon 
Joslin  and  Harry  L.  Day,  whose  terms  of  office  expire.  Mr.  Secretary, 
how  is  that  handled? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  The  committee  is  to  be  selected 
by  the  members  present. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  What  is  the  number  of  the  Nominating 
Committee? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  The  Nominating  Committee  usu- 
ally consists  of  three. 

MR.  TALMAGE:  Mr.  President,  I  move  that  if  in  accordance  with 
the  By-Laws,  the  Chairman  appoint  the  Nominating  Committee. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  It  would  not  be,  Dr.  Talmage. 
The  practice  is  to  take  it  entirely  away  from  the  present  offcial  board 
to  the  hands  of  the  members  present  to  make  the  selection. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  We  might  fix  the  <  slate  if  it  was  left 
to  the  President's  hands,  and  that,  we  want  to  avoid!  (Laughter.) 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:     Great  inducement,  I  am  afraid! 


84  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

MR.  TALMAGE:  Mr.  President,  I  nominate,  as  one  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Nominations,  Mr.  A.  G.  Mackenzie,  of  Utah. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  Mackenzie  has  been  nominated. 
Two  other  nominations,  if  yon  please. 

MR.  RUHL:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would)  nominate  Judge  Richards,  of 
Idaho. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  One  more  nomination,  gentlemen,  is  to 
be  made. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  1  nominate  Mr.  Bulkeley  Wells,  of  Colo- 
rado. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ  (after  a  pause):  Are  there  any  further 
nominations?  If  not  nominations  will  close.  Those  in  favor  of  the 
election  of  the  nominees  will  say  aye.  Carried.  The  committee  will  re- 
tire, and  within  five  minutes  bring  in  a  report. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:     Or  less  time! 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     Or  sooner,  if  they  can! 

MR.  WELLS:     Will  you  hand  us  a  slate?     (Laughter.) 

The  Nominating  Committee  thereupon  met  to  consider  nomina- 
tions for  officers  of  the  American  Mining  Congress,  and  the  members' 
meeting  took  a  recess  until  the  committee  should  be  ready  for  fheir 
report. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  The  Nominating  Committee  has  returned 
to  their  seats,  and  1  presume  has  a  report  to  offer.  Can  we  hear  from 
the  Chairman?  , 

MR.  MACKENZIE,  Chairman  of  the  Nominating  Committee:  Mr. 
President,  the  Nominating  Committee  respectfully  submits  the  names 
of  the  following  as  directors  for  the  next  three  years: 

Dr.  J.  E.  Talmage,  of  Utah. 

Mr.   Chas.  M'.  Moderwell,  of  Illinois. 

Mr.  Harry  L.  Day,  of  Idaho. 

Dr.  W.  B.  Phillips  of  Colorado. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  nomina- 
tions. What  is  your  pleasure?  k 

MR.  MACKENZIE:     I  now  move  the  adoption  of  the  resolution. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  President,  pardon  me,  the 
election  must  take  place  by  ballot,  so  that  if  there  are  no  other  nomina- 
tions before  the  house — if  anyone  desires  to  make  nominations,  the 
privilege  is  certainly  open — but  if  there  are  no  other  nominations,  a 
motion  that  the  Secretary  be  instructed  to  cast  the  ballot  for  the  can- 
didates named  will  be  in  order. 

PRESIDENT   SCHOLZ:      Do   we   hear   any   further   nominations? 

MR.  WOLCOTT:  Mr.  Chairman,  there  being  no  other  nomina- 
tions, I  move  you  that  the  Secretary  be  instructed  to  cast  the  ballot 
1  for  the  nominations  as  approved  by  the  Nominating  Committee. 

The  motion  was  seconded  by  Mr.  Wells. 

The  motion  was  thereupon  put  and  carried. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     The  Secretary  is  so  instructed. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  President,  by  instruction 
of  the  motion,  I  hereby  cast  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  delegates  present, 
and  those  who  are  represented  by  proxy  for  Dr.  James  E.  Talmage, 
Charles  M.  Moderwell,  JHarry  L.  Day,  Dr.  William  B.  Phillips,  as  Di- 
rectors of  the  American  Mining  Congress  for  three  years,  and  until 
their  successors  are  duly  elected  and  qualified. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  What  further  business  is  there  to  come 
before  this  meeting? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  President,  I  think  it  would 
be  a  good  time  now  to  take  up  the  question  of  our  next  year's  meeting. 
The  power  to  decide  this  question  is  left  by  our  By-Laws  to  the  Board 
of  Directors.  I  think,  however,  that  it  would  be  wise  for  those  present 
to  discuss  this  general  proposition.  There  has  been  a  plan  under  con- 
sideration for  a  little  time  back  to  give  a  mining  show  in  Chicago  next 
year,  to  hold  a  Convention  in  connection  with  the  mining  show,  and  to 


AMERICAN     MINING    CONGRESS  85 

» 

endeavor  to  get  together  the  largest  body  of  mining  men  that  ever  as- 
sembled in  the  United  States.  It  is  believed  that  Chicago  is  the  proper 
city  for  such  a  gathering,  from  the  standpoint  of  a  convention  only,  and 
that  it  is  one  of  the  two  cities  in  the  United  States  where  a  mining  show 
could  be  made  a  success.  It  would  be  well,  perhaps,  to  review  somewhat 
the  history  of  the  Philadelphia  mining  show.  The  result  of  that  mining 
show  was  a  small  loss  represented  by  the  five  hundred  and  forty-six 
dollars,  which,  from  the  Secretary's  report  tonight,  shows  has  been  paid 
to  the  director  of  that  show.  It  was  a  splendid  show.  Two  gentlemen, 
who  have  examined  the  exhibits  here  at  the  Panama-Pacific  International 
Exposition  and  who  attended  the  mining  show  in  Philadelohia,  have 
said  to  me  that  if  the  government  exhibits  were  left  out  of  this  exposi- 
tion that  our  mining  show  at  Philadelphia  was  a  better  show  than  that 
here.  That  I  presume  is  upon  the  theory  that  the  larger  part  of  the 
exhibit  here  is  the  government  exhibit,  so  that  does  not  detract  from 
the  credit  of  this  Panama-Pacific  International  Exposition,  but  it  does 
show  that  the  exhibits  at  Philadelphia  were  attractive  and  covered  a  wide 
field.  I  want  with  your  permission  to  state  somewhat  the  conditions. 
When  we  undertook  to  discuss  the  Philadelphia  mining  show,  I  made 
a  request  of  several  of  the  gentlemen,  whom  I  thought  could  afford  to 
assist,  and  asked  them  to  contribute  to  meet  the  preliminary  expenses 
which  had  to  be  paid  in  advance,  the  advances  to  be  returned  with  ten 
per  cent  added.  The  responses  made  aggregated  the  sum  of  five  hun- 
dred dollars.  At  the  time  I  thought  we  could  not  undertake  it,  but  as 
the  time  grew  closer,  and  the  necessity  for  some  way  for  making  some 
money  besides  dues  of  members  was  so  great,  I  thought  we  would  tackle 
it  anyway,  and  with  that  five  hundred  dollars  we  financed  the  show  in 
Philadelphia.  We  had  practically  three  months  until  the  show  was 
pulled  off,  but  under  those  adverse  conditions  we  came  within  a  little  of 
making  a  financial  success.  I  feel  that  we  can  give  a  mining  show,  and 
if  all  the  members  will  take  hold  and  help,  we  can  make  it  a  source  of 
continued  revenue  to  support  the  work,  so  that  less  demand  will  be 
made  upon  the  mining"  fraternity  for  support.  The  question  is  whether 
Chicago  is  ready  to  do  its  part  towards  taking  the  show  there,  and  that 
being  settled,  whether  you  believe  we  ought  to  do  it,  and  if  that's  done, 
the  question  is  as  to  how  the  enterprise  is  to  be  financed. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Gentlemen,  if  you  will  pardon  me  for  a 
few  moments,  I  would  like  to  say  that  I  have  given  it  some  thought,  and 
the  only  criticism  I  have  ever  made  of  the  Mining  Congress  work  is  that 
they  were  never  ready.  We.  come  in  at  the  eleventh  hour,  and  it  is 
surprising  that  these  meetings  have  been  conducted  so  well  as  they 
have.  As  Mr.  Callbreath  refers  to  the  mining  show  at  Philadelphia,  the 
gentleman  who  undertook  the  work  called  at  my  office  some  time  in 
August,  I  think,  and  asked  me  to  help  him  get  exhibitors.  I  was  so  ab- 
solutely astounded  that  I  could  not  believe  he  meant  this  year,  but  that 
he  referred  to  the  year  ahead.  Some  of  the  machinery  had  to  be  shipped 
by  express,  which  was  very  unsatisfactory  to  the  exhibitors,  because  usu- 
ally they  like  to  give  the  best  products  they  have,  and  give  a  few  extra 
finishing  touches,  all  of  which  was  entirely  impossible.  I  feel  that  the 
greatest  work  the  Congress  is  doing  is  of  an  educational  character,  and 
to  me  nothing  has  been  more  instructive  than  attending  expositions  and 
shows.  This  is  my  seventh  and  I  expect  to  learn  a  great  deal  from  it, 
and  attend  many  more  to  come.  Consequently,  I  believe  an  exposition 
can  be  made  a  success,  provided  it  is  started  in  time;  and  the  criticism 
I  have  made  to  the  Secretary  is  the  fact  that  under  the  previous  ar- 
rangements the  decision  for  the  place  of  meeting  had  been  put  off  too 
long,  and  not  sufficient  time  allotted  to  the  arrangements,  and  it  was 
therefore  that  I  suggested  last  night  that  the  matter  be  taken  up  at  this 
meeting.  I  believe  this  year  propositions  were  received  from  a  firm  in 
New  York  to  finance  a  mining  show  without  any  responsibility  to  the 
Mining  Congress.  I  did  not  think  that  that  was  the  proper  thing  to  do, 
because  it  has  too  much  of  the  financial  phases  injected  into  it.  I  be- 


86  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

lieve  that  we  have  the  machinery  to  provide  a  mining  show  which  should 
be  better  than  anything  that  ever  has  been  held.  I  do  not  think  that 
there  would  be  the  least  difficulty  in  raising  the  money  if  we  should  go 
to  Chicago.  At  one  of  the  meetings  of  the  Illinois  coal  operators  about 
sixty  days  ago  I  brought  the  matter  up,  and  Mr.  Moderwell,  who  has 
been  very  active  in  the  Mining  Congress  work,  who  is  the  President  of 
the  Illinois  Coal  Operators,  expressed  himself  in  about  the  following 
words.  He  said:  "I  am  in  sympathy  with  anything  that  the  Mining 
Congress  wants  to  do,  provided  that  the  manufacturers  and  exhibitors 
on  whom  we  will  call  for  financial  support  do  not  feel  that  we  are  ex- 
acting tribute  from  them.  Taking  that  cue,  I  called  with  Mr.  Callbreath, 
I  believe,  on  Mr.  Charlie  Bearing,  also  a  coal  man,  and  at  this  time  serv- 
ing as  President  of  the  Chicago  Association  of  Commerce,  one  of  the 
biggest  institutions  of  the  country,  and  had  his  manager  of  finance  send 
the  business  men  and  exhibitors — at  least  a  limited  number — an  inquiry 
as  to  their  feelings  with  regard  to  this  matter.  I  also  talked  to  several 
of  the  leading  newspapers  in  Chicago,  and  asked  them  what  they  thought 
about  it,  setting  forth  the  fact  that  we  did  not  wish  to  bleed  people  who 
had  been  very  generous  in  the  past,  that  if  they  do  not  think  this  exhibi- 
tion would  do,  to  come  out  and  say  so.  I  felt  they  would  express  them- 
selves more  freely  to  the  Association  of  Commerce.  It  is  very  gratifying 
to  me  to  say  that  with  the  exception  of  one  letter,  every  letter  received 
spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of  the  Mining  Congress,  and  encouraged 
the  holding  of  a  mining  show,  particularly  after  we  explained  that  we 
did  not  want  to  exhibit  machinery  and  appliances  only,  but  we  wanted 
to  illustrate  to  the  people,  to  our  visitors,  certain  phases  of  the  industry 
that  the  laymen  were  not  familiar  with  at  this  time,  such  as,  for  in- 
stance, items  of  cost.  We  wanted  to  demonstrate  clearly  to  the  mind 
of  the  least  informed  by  graphic  tables  and  illustrations  and  information 
that  they  did  not  now  possess,  and  could  not  grasp  from  figures.  I  my- 
self am  very  slow  at  figures,  and  nothing  is  more  helpful  to  me  in  grasp- 
ing a  business  problem  than  a  graphic  illustration.  I  saw  in  Dr.  Holmes' 
office  a  few  years  ago  a  number  of  illustrations  which  he  had  used  for 
a  congressional  committee,  and  which  had  helped  him  to  do,  in  a  very 
few  moments,  what  had  theretofore  taken  hours  and  days  of  explana- 
tion. That  line  of  talk  appealed  very  strongly  to  the  coal  operators,  be- 
cause they  have  been  trying,  as  you  perhaps  know,  to  get  before  the 
Federal  Trades  Commission,  and  have  them  investigate  the  coal  mining 
industry,  and  they  felt  that  the  Mining  Congress  could  help  by  getting 
back  of  such  a  move.  And  I  am  sure  the  same  situation  would  apply  to 
the  metal  industry  and  to  other  industries,  and  while  I  am  from  Chicago, 
I  am  not  pulling  for  the  Chicago  Convention  excepting  in  so  far  as  I 
believe  it  would  be  a  desirable  place  for  the  Mining  Congress  to  reach 
a  number  of  people  far  in  excess  of  the  number  they,  could  reach  at 
any  other  place  that  I  can  now  think  of.  You  will  pardon  me  for  mak- 
ing this  lengthy  statement,  but  I  wanted  to  tell  you  that  the  matter  has 
been  thought  of,  and  is  now  a  live  issue  in  Chicago.  However,  the  de- 
cision will  be  left  with  you  gentlemen,  and  is  merely  suggestive  on  my 
part. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  very  much  pleased 
with  the  suggestion  that  has  been  given  with  regard  to  the  Chicago 
meeting.  It  strikes  me  it  is  a  very  good  thing  to  do,  and  will  reach  the 
public  in  that  way  better  than  any  other  place  I  can  think  of.  It  is 
central,  and  I  am  very  willing  to  go  there.  I  would  be  pleased  to  have 
the  Board  select  Chicago  as  the  place  of  meeting. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  I  would  be  glad  to  hear  from  other 
gentlemen  present,  because  it  is  a  subject  that  is  of  a  good  deal  of  im- 
portance, that  should  not  be  decided  vrp~on  hastily.  It  is  deserving  of 
serious  thought,  but  once  started  should  be  put  through  with  vim  and 
vigor,  so  we  will  have  something  creditable. 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:     If  we  are  ready  for  it,  I  move  you  that  it 


\      AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  87 

is  the  sense  of  the  members  present  that  the  Board  of  Directors  present 
select  Chicago  as  the  next  place  of  meeting. 

SECRETARY  CALLBRKATH:  And  also  combine  with  that  the 
exposition  suggested? 

JUDGE  RICHARDS:     Combine  Ihe  exposition  suggested. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Before  the  motion  is  put  to  a  vote,  I 
would  Jike  to  have  more  discussion.  Dr.  Phillips,  you  have  attended  a 
number  of  our  conventions.  You  know  what  we  aim  to  do.  Let  us 
hear  from  you. 

MR.  PHILLIPS:  Not  only  have  I  attended  a  number  of  conven- 
tions of  the  American  Mining  Congress,  but  I  have  been  going  to  ex- 
positions since  1876,  and  I  have  often  thought  that  if  there  could  be  a 
mining  show  conducted  in  this  country  under  the  care  of  the  American 
Mining  Congress,  it  would  be  the  best  show  that  was  ever  held  in  the 
United  States  for  mining  men.  A  great  exposition  like  this  is  no  place 
to  see  mining  machinery,  and  talk  to  mining  men.  There  are  too  many 
distractions;  the  pace  is  too  swift.  We  want  to  concentrate  our  efforts 
on  a  show  in  Chicago  for  mining  men,  and  I  heartily  approve  of  the 
idea. 

MR.  E.  L.  WOLCOTT:  Mr.  Chairman,  it  was  my  pleasure  and 
work  to  be  all  through  the  show  held  at  Philadelphia  two  years  ago, 
and  I  was  very  much  amused  when  the  President  spoke  about  doing 
everything  at  the  last  minute.  We  did  there,  everything  at  the  last 
minute.  We  were  compelled  to  from  many  causes,  but  principally  be- 
cause we  started  at  the  last  minute  to  get  up  that  show.  Now,  I  be- 
lieve with  the  gentlemen  that  if  the  American  Mining  Congress  takes 
hold  of  the  idea  of  a  show  in  Chicago  at  this  time,  starts  it  at  this  time, 
and  lays  it  out  on  plans  so  that  everybody  who  has  anything  to-do  with 
it  knows  exactly  what  to  do,  it  will  be  one  of  the  great  big  successes 
of  this  country,  and  attract  attention  that  no  other  show  ever  has  done, 
of  that  nature  at  least. 

Now  I  only  heard  one  phase  of  it  mentioned,  and  that  was  mining 
machinery.  I  do  not  think  that's  broad  enough.  I  think  it  should  cover 
our  mineral  deposits;  I  think  it  should  cover  our  mining  camp  resources. 
There  are  hundreds  of  mining  camps  in  this  country  that  need  just  such 
an  opportunity  to  bring  their  resources  and  deposits  before  the  public. 
The  American  Mining  Congress  cannot  do  that  individually,  that  is,  it 
cannot  boost  any  camp,  and  yet  those  camps  ought  to  be  boosted.  And 
today  the  people  who  are  investing  in  mining,  and  who  favor  the  mining 
industry,  should  kno\v  just  what  is  in  the  camp. 

It  has  been  my  privilege  to  travel  over  this  country  in  my  capacity 
as  assistant  secretary  a  great  deal,  and  I  have  visited  a  great  many 
camps  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  have  seen  some  things  that 
are  surprising;  resources  that  should  have  been  developed,  but  were  ly- 
ing idle,  because  they  had  no  way  of  bringing  them  before  the  public. 
I  believe  that  every  camp  that  has  resources  should  have  a  mineral  dis- 
play at  the  exposition,  and  have  somebody  there  to  explain  just  what 
they  have,  and  I  believe  if  that  is  brought  before  the  mining  camps  in 
time,  and  properly,  it  will  add  very  largely  to  the  show,  and  also  to  the 
income  from  the  exposition. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  -There  is  one  interesting  feature  that  was 
brought  out  by  three  or  four  of  the  gentlemen  I  interviewed  personally. 
I  have  in  mind  more  particularly  Mr.  Goodman,  of  the  Goodman  Manu- 
facturing Company.  He  said  that  the  best  exhibits  we  have,  and  that 
could  possibly  be  put  up,  were  our  factories  located  in  Chicago,  and  if 
the  Mining  Congress  can  be  induced  to  come  here,  we  will  buy  all'  the 
space  that  you  want  us  to  take;  but  we  would  like  to  have  the  privilege 
of  taking  the  visitors  down  to  our  factories,  and  let  them  see  how  the 
stuff  is  made,  how  we  put  our  machinery  together,  and  what  we  give 
them  for  their  monev,  and  from  my  own  observation,  that  is  one  method 
that  appeals  to  mining  men  very  strongly.  They  like  to  know  how  their 
generators  are  built,  how  the  motors  are  put  together,  what  sort  of 


88  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

castings  go  into  the  machinery,  and  how  everything  is  assembled.  And 
it  struck  me  as  a  very  forceful  idea,  and  one  which  could  not  be  carried 
out  any  place  else  as  well  as  it  could  be  in  Chicago,  because  there  is  a 
greater  number  of  mining  machinery  plants  at  Chicago,  and  in  the  near 
vicinity,  within  three  or  four  hours'  ride,  that  visitors  there  could  learn 
more  in  a  shorter  space  of  time,  than  by  going  to  any  other  place  in 
the  United  States,  as  far  as  I  know. 

Is  there  any  further  discussion?  If  not,  we  will  take  a  vote.  (Puts 
motion.) 

A  DELEGATE:  Is  any  time  to  be  set,  or  is  that  to  be  left  to 
subsequent  action? 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  I  would  say  that  it  would  not  be  well 
to  fix  the  time  tonight.  If  you  do  go,  it  would  be  my  personal  opinion 
that  we  would  consult  with  the  Convention  Bureau  of  the  Association 
of  Commerce,  so  as  to  avoid  any  misfits,  and  perhaps  have  it  follow  con- 
ventions that  would  be  called  about  the  same  time. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Then  too,  it  would  not  be  safe 
to  decide  the  date  until  you  know  whether  you  can  get  the  hall  at  that 
time.  That's  the  prime  necessity  for  the  show. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  There  are  two  halls  in  Chicago  available 
for  a  show  of  that  kind — the  Coliseum,  which  I  think  is  the  largest,  or 
certainly  the  largest  building  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States,  and  the 
First  Regiment  Armory,  on  Michigan  avenue.  Both  have  splendid  loca- 
tions, right  down  town,  and  are  filled  with  conventions  of  that  kind 
practically  every  night — automobile  shows,  business  shows,  and  many 
others.  The  railway  appliances  shows  are  held  in  either  one  or  both 
of  those  buildings,  not  to  mention  the  Ringling  Circus.  Gentlemen,  you 
have  heard  the  motion  that  the  next  session  of  the  Mining  Congress, 
coupled' with  the  mining  show,  be  held  in  the  City  of  Chicago,  if  the 
directors  approve? 

MR.  WOLCOTT:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  like  very  much  to' hear 
more  individual  opinion  on  this  before  we  put  it  to  a  vote.  There  have 
been  only  two  or  three  of  us  who  have  expressed  their  opinion.  I  think 
it  would  be  a  good  idea  to  call  on  members. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  I  stand  corrected,  and  we  will  go  down 
the  line  and  call  on  every  man  present'.  Mr.  Ruhl,  you  are  next  in  line. 
You  live  in  Missouri. 

MR.  RUHL:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  heartily  in  favor  of  any  such 
proposition-  because  of  the  experience  I  have  had  this  year  with  the 
exhibits  of  the  mining  industry  of  our  state  at  the  Panama-Pacific  In- 
ternational Exposition.  It  was  my  idea,  in  getting  up  our  exhibit,  to 
show  our  mining  from  the  raw  product  to  the  finished  product,  giving  the 
visitor  a  general  knowledge  of  costs.  I  found,  when  in  Washington  a 
few  years  ago  trying  to  obtain  a  duty  on  zinc  ores  that  few  knew  any- 
thing about  costs.  You  talked  to  a  man,  supposed  to  be  a  statesman, 
and  he  knew  nothing  about  this  industry  of  our  country.  We  had  great 
difficulty  to  get  him  to  understand  the  trend  of  our  industry;  why  it 
was  there  had  been  such  changes  in  it;  where  these  factors  entered; 
why  it  took  time,  energy,  and  money  to  produce  zinc  for  our  country's 
consumers.  We  are  against  that  same  proposition  again,  and  we  will 
have  to  go  up  to  Washington  every  three  or  four  years  and  maybe 
within  the  next  two  years.  Therefore  every  bit  of  public  opinion  we 
can  educate  in  the  meantime  is  going  to  be  good  for  the  zinc  and  lead 
industries;  good,  both  for  Missouri  and  Idaho,  and  both  states  could 
do  no  better  thing  than  to  make  the  cost  end  of  the  lead  and  zinc  in- 
dustries a  very  prominent  feature  of  the  show  in  Chicago.  It  is  wise 
to  do  this,  because  it  is  in  the  manufacturing  parts  of  this  country  that 
the  mining  industry  is  known  least,  and  where  the  people  want  raw 
products.  It  is  this  class  of  our  people  who  do  not  want  to  see  any 
protection  on  raw  products,  and  that's  where  we  are  going  to  have 
to  do  our  fighting,  our  educating,  and  for  that  reason  I  am  thoroughly 
in  favor  of  such  a  show. 


AMERICAN    MINING    CONGRESS  89 

.PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Judge  Richards,  you  have  already  ex- 
pressed yourself.  Mr.  Allen,  you  live  in  the  vicinity — in  a  suburb  of 
Chicago,  so  to  speak. 

MR.  ALLEN:  Mr.  President,  of  course  we  would  like  to  see  the 
convention  somewhere  NEAR  Chicago,  if  not  IN  Chicago.  It's  a  cen- 
tral point.  Everybody  comes  to  Chicago.  The  attendance  at  a  conven- 
tion there  would  probably  be  greater  than  it  would  be  elsewhere.  It 
might  also  help  to  arouse  a  little  more  interest  among  the  people  in 
the  Lake  Superior  country  in  this  organization.  That  is  a  thing  that 
has  occupied  some  of  my  thoughts  during  the  past  year — why  it  is  that 
the  mining  interests  of  the  Lake  Superior  region  are  not  more  active 
in  this  organization. 

Speaking  of  the  subject  of  mining  costs,  it  has  occurred  to  me  that 
from  some  points  of  view,  it  would  be  wise  to  bear  down  hard  on  that 
subject.  But  I  am  wondering  if  the  mining  interests  themselves  w^ould 
care  to  make  an  exhibition  of  mining  costs.  We  could  no  doubt,  from 
our  office,  put  up  a  very  good  exhibition  of  mining  costs.  I  doubt  very 
much,  however,  whether  the  mining  companies  would  care  to  make  their 
costs  a  matter  of  public  information.  Such  an  exhibit  would,  of  course, 
have  a  great  educational  value.  The  attitude  of  the  mining  companies 
should  be  carefully  ascertained  before  we  go  ahead  on  plans  to  make  a 
public  exhibition  of  mining  costs.  I  doubt  very  much  if  such  an  exhibi- 
tion would  be  looked  upon  with  favor  by  the  mining  interests  of  the 
Lake  Superior  region.  The  reasons  for  that  I  need  not  go  into,  but  it's 
a  thing  that  should  be  considered  in  planning  to  make  mining  costs  a 
feature  of  the  exhibition.  The  mining  companies  themselves  have  got 
to  take  hold  of  that  if  success  is  attained,  because  after  all,  there  isn't, 
anybody  who  knows  what  mining  costs  are  except  the  operators. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Allen,  your  theory  is  that 
the  mining  men  of  the  Lake  Superior  district  would  not  care  to  enter 
the  exhibition  for  the  purpose  of  showing  their  mining  costs.  I  think 
you  are  right,  but  would  they  not  be  interested  in  an  exhibition  of  mining 
machinery? 

MR.  ALLEN:     They  would. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  So  they  could  study  all  the  meth- 
ods? 

MR.  ALLEX:  They  also  would  be  interested  in  seeing  the  costs 
that  the  other  fellow  had.  (Laughter.)  I  believe  that  if  the  Congress 
were  held  at  Chicago  the  Lake  Superior  men  would  take  hold  of  this 
matter  if  proper  efforts  were  extended  toward  enlisting  their  interest. 
According  to  my  information  their  activity  in  the  Mining  Congress  is 
just  about  nil.  Last  year  at  Phoenix  I  was  the  only  representative  from 
Michigan.  There  was  another  representative  from  Minnesota — two  of 
us  from  the  whole  Lake  Superior  country;  and  this  year  there  is  only 
one  other  besides  myself.  To  me  that  is  a  queer  condition  of  affairs. 
We  have  the  largest  single  mining  district  on  this  continent;  yet  it  takes 
no  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  American  Mining  Congress.  Perhaps  the 
Secretary  can  tell  us  why  it  is.  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover  the 
reason  for  it. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  I  think  I  can  give  a  reason,  Mr. 
Chairman.  In  the  first  place,  they  have  an  association  called  the  Lake 
Superior  Mining  Institute,  which  works  largely  along  the  lines  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers.  In  that  organization  they 
have  a  perfect  exponent  of  their  technical  and  scientific  work.  In  the 
field  of  mining  politics  they  have  had  little  interest.  I  think  this  in- 
terest in  the  future  will  be  greater  than  in  the  past  and  I  feel  satisfied 
that  the  Mining  Congress  in  its  development  has  reached  a  point  where 
they  will  be  interested  in  our  work.  In  the  past  they  have  regarded  the 
American  Mining  Congress  as  a  precious  metal  organization  entirely. 
I  think  in  the  future  we  will  get  better  support  from  that  section,  par- 
ticularly through  the  good  offices  of  our  friend,  Mr.  Allen. 

MR.   A.   T.    McINTYRE    (Elizabethtown,   N.    M.) :    Mr.    Chairman 


90  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

and  gentlemen:  Just  a  word  from  a  prospector.  I  am  not  a  public 
speaker.  I  am  a  delegate  from  New  Mexico,  and  I  have  been  mining 
and  prospecting  for  fifty  years.  I  find  more  interest  in  the  East  in 
mining,  fifteen  to  one,  than  there  is  in  the  West,  and  I  think  Chicago 
would  be  a  logical  place  for  a  mining  congress.  An  exhibition  in  Chicago 
properly  managed  would  be  a  great  big  boon  to  mining  and  the  Mining 
Congress. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  '  Mr.  Willis,  we  shall  be  glad  to  hear 
from  you. 

MR.  WILLIS:  I  am  very  heartily  in  favor  of  a  mining  show,  and 
believe  that  there  is  no  better  place  in  the  country  to  have  it  than  Chi- 
cago. Such  a  show  should  be  educational  in  nature,  and  primarily  for 
the  education  of  the  public.  It  is  from  the  public  that  we  expect  the 
greater  portion  of  our  support,  but  at  the  same  time,  it  is  necessary  to  get 
support  from  the  other  side,  i.  e.,  the  machine  companies,  and  their 
work  will  not  be  so  largely  educational.  The  difficulty  will  be  in  financ- 
ing the  strictly  educational  portion.  We  should  do  something  in  the 
way  of  educating  the  public  as  to  costs,  their  distribution  and  effects. 
The  public  should  be  shown  something  relative  to  the  necessity  for  the 
redemption  of  capital,  for  it  seems  a  very  difficult  thing  to  convince  even 
our  state  legislators  that  there  is  any  capital  to  redeem. 

Another  educational  feature  ..that  should  be  taken  up,  which  is  one 
of  the  chief  aims  of  the  American  Mining  Congress,  is  the  risks  and  re- 
wrards  of  the  mining  industry.  The  public  should  be  shown  that  one 
takes  no  more  of  a  chance  under  the  right  circumstances  in  investing  in 
mines  than  in  any  other  business.  At  the  same  time,  the  shows  must 
be  sufficiently  attractive  to  bring  the  public  there  to  be  educated. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     Dr.  Talmage? 

DR.  TALMAGE:  1  think  it  was  four  years  ago  when  the  American 
Mining  Congress  held  its  meeting  in  Chicago,  and  that  meeting  appealed 
to  me  as  one  that  did  much  to  unite  the  interests  of  the  coal  mining  peo- 
ple and  the  metal  mining  people.  If  it  be  so  that  the  mining  men  of 
the  great  Lake  Superior  region  have  not  manifested  much  activity  along 
the  line  of  mining  work,  I  think  they  should  be  enlisted.  If  they  won't 
come  to  us  we  should  go  to  them.  I  am  in  favor  of  the  proposition  for 
the  reasons  stated,  and  that  means  that  I  am  in  favor  of  the  exposition 
proposed,  the  details  of  which,  however,  must  be  very  carefully  worked 
out.  The  suggestions  offered  tonight  are  most  valuable,  and  others  of 
the  kind  should  be  elicited  from  the  members,  so  that  the  exposition 
may  be  well  thought  out  before  we  begin  the  actual  work. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  Kimball,  we  would  be  glad  to  hear 
from  you. 

HON.  ALBERT  KIMBALL  (Thatcher,  Arizona):  I  am  now  to 
some  extent  associated  with  this  work,  having  been  honored  by  the 
Arizona  Chapter  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  to  be  one  of  its 
directors. 

I  am  not  a  miner,  though  I  too  dig  holes  in  the  earth.  My  line  of 
operation,  however,  is  agriculture.  While  the  products  of  effort  are 
vastly  different  in  character,  our  interests  are  identical. 

Farming  is  most  profitable  when  close  to  a  good  market,  and  it  is 
evident  also  that  mining  is  more  profitable  when  carried  on  in  close 
proximity  to  agriculture.  They  go  well  hand  in  hand. 

On  being  ^notified  of  my  appointment  as  a  director,  I  wrote  the 
acting  Secretary,  Mr.  Wolcott,  that  this  time  they  had  made  a  mistake, 
as  I  was  not  a  miner,  but  an  agriculturist,  and  therefore  I  had  no  place 
with  the  Arizona  Chapter  as  a  director  or  even  a  member.  I,  however, 
called  on  Mr.  Wolcott  when  in  Phoenix  during  the  sitting  of  the  legisla- 
ture and.  after  talking  with  the  Secretary  for  a  little  while,  I  was  con- 
vinced that  other  interests  within  the  state  were  eligible.  I  took  out 
a  membership. 

Along  the  line  of  co-operation  of  mutual  effort  for  the  higher  de- 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  91 

velopment  of  the  resources  of  our  Baby  State,  let  me  mention  a  circum- 
stance of  my  earlier  days  in  Arizona. 

During  the  first  season  after  my  arrival  in  the  Gila  Valley,  Gra- 
ham County,  Mr.  James  Calquhoun,  general  manager  of  the  Arizona 
Copper  Company,  of  Clifton,  Metcalf  and  Morenci  districts,  called  on 
me  in  the  valley,  I  was  just  moving  my  family  in  a  rented  house.  Here 
many  paid  their  respects  to  agriculture.  Later  I  returned  the  visit  and 
was  entertained  courteously  by  this  Scotch  gentleman.  I  was  shown 
all  the  works,  and  walked  many  miles  through  the  mines.  During  the 
course  of  our  conversation,  Mr.  Calquhoun  said:  "Mr.  Kimball,  so  long 
as  you  dig  out  of  the  earth  products  to  live  upon,  we  will  be  digging  the 
metal  out  of  the  earth  with  which  to  buy  them.  Our  interests  are  iden- 
tical." 

Then  again,  before  the  days  of  railroads  and  other  conveniences, 
only  high  grade  ores  could  be  worked  at  a  profit;  the  mines  were  honey- 
combed for  rich  deposits,  but  since  the  advent  of  the  farmer  in  near 
proximity,  cheaper  food  for  man  and  beast,  whole  mountains  are  taken 
down,  low-grade  ores  can  be  worked. 

Another  reason  for  taking  the  next  Congress  east:  It  was  not 
long  ago  the  Eastern  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Washington 
looked  upon  the  country  out  West  as  a  howling  wilderness  good  only 
to  be  inhabited  by  savages,  trappers  and  wild  beasts  unworthy  the 
attention  of  great  statesmen.  Appropriations  went  easy  to  Eastern  land 
and  waterways,  nothing  for  the  West. 

When  Senator  Newlands  of  Nevada  began  work  on  his  Reclama- 
tion measure  he  had  up-hill  work.  Eastern  Congressmen  could  not  see 
it.  They  could  not  understand  how  such  a  law  could  benefit  them. 
Through  the  influence  of  the  Trans-Mississippi  Commercial  Congress, 
the  Irrigation  Congress  and  other  organizations,  the  West  gained  prom- 
inence. But  it  was  not  until  we  showed  the  manufacturers  and  dealers 
of  the  East  that  they  were  the  ones  to  be  most  benefited  would  they  act. 

Through  the  reclamation  of  the  untold  millions  of  acres  of  land  in 
the  West,  the  congested  centers  have  been  unloaded  of  their  population, 
the  problem  of  the  landless  man  upon  the  manless  land  is  being  solved, 
a  greater  United  States  established,  the  East  and  the  West  brought  to- 
gether on  one  common  plane  of  mutual  interest. 

Therefore,  Mr.  President,  speaking,  as  I  may  be  permitted  to  do 
for  Arizona,  that  the  East  may  better  understand  the  West,  and  that 
we  may  get  closer  together,  I  favor  Chicago  as  the  next  meeting  place 
for  the  American  Mining  Congress. 

I  am  sure  the  mining  men  of  Arizona  are  misunderstood.  They 
are  expending  enormous  sums  in  opening  up  and  developing  the  mines, 
millions  annually  go  into  construction  work,  improved  methods,  better 
machinery,  the  outlay  of  much  money  for  greater  efficiency. 

Generally  speaking,  our  mining  men  are  generous,  broad-minded 
gentlemen,  good  citizens  and,  as  suggested  before,  are  large  enough  to 
comprehend  the  necessity  of  agriculture  and  other  interests  of  the  state 
being  developed  along  with  mining. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  Hull,  you  are  one  of  the  old  timers. 
We  would  be  glad  to  hear  from  you. 

MR.  HULL:  Mr.  President,  I  think  Chicago  is  one  of  the  best 
places  that  we  could  have  this  show,  and  a  place  where  we  could  gather 
this  congress  to  advantage,  because  we  will  come  in  touch  with  men 
who  would  take  more  of  an  interest  in  this  organization  than  the  men 
have  in  the  West.  The  men  in  the  West  who  are  interested  in  the  min- 
ing industry  have  taken  the  least  interest  to  advance  the  interests  of  the 
mines.  ^When  we  look  through  this  western  country,  and  at  those  who 
have  built  up  this  city,  with  all  its  set-backs,  I  believe  that  they  should  do 
more  than  they  have  done,  but  we  must  remember,  there  have  been  so 
many  organizations  here,  it  has  almost  been  impossible  for  us  to  intro- 
duce ourselves  and  get  them  with  us. 


92  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Mr.  Montgomery,  I  think  you  are  next 
in  line. 

MR.  MONTGOMERY:  Mr.  President,  I  gave  my  approval  to 
the  choice  of  Mr.  Richards,  and  seconded  his  motion  that  our  next 
convention  be  held  in  Chicago,  because  I  believe  Chicago  more  desirable 
than  any  other  place  that  could  be  selected.  Dr.  Talmage  has  expressed 
a  very  significant  sentiment  in  regard  to  the  uniting  of  the  interests  of 
the  coal  operator  and  the  metal  mine  operator  in  joint  support  of  the 
Mining  Congress.  I  do  not  know  whether  there  is  an  oil  operator  pres- 
ent to  speak  for  them,  but  they  should  be  specially  considered.  Some 
of  the  oil  operators  of  the  big  producing  companies  of  California  have 
expressed  in  my  presence  the  opinion  that  the  American  Mining  Con- 
gress is  an  organization  which  is  working  particularly  for  metal  miners 
and  not  for  oil  miners  or  for  the  oil  operators  interested  in  mineral 
oil  lands;  and  I  believe  there  perhaps  has  not  been  enough  said,  if  any- 
thing has  been  said,  to  indicate  that  the  American  Mining  Congress  is 
as  much  concerned  in  mineral  oil  lands  as  it  is  concerned  in  the  re- 
sources of  mineral  lands  not  including  oil  minerals. 

A  convention  held  in  Chicago  would  be  central  between  East  and 
West  as  regards  the  convenience  of  men  engaged  in  mining.  I  assume 
that  proper  and  full  consideration  will  be  given  to  the  oil  operator — as 
much  so  in  Chicago  as  in  Los  Angeles  or  any  other  city  in  the  United 
States.  I  realize  that  oil  is  at  this  time  a  very  important  factor  in  mining, 
and  is  used  extensively  now  for  higher  speed  ocean  steamers,  and  particu- 
larly so  in  preparation  for  war.  I  surely  approve  of  Chicago  as  a  most 
desirable  place  for  the  next  Mining  Congress  Convention. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Last,  but  not  least,  we  would  like  to 
hear  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Utah  Chapter,  who  has  added  about 
seven  hundred  members  in  about  ten  days'  time.  How  many  of  those 
will  you  bring  to  Chicago,  provided  you  are  in  favor  of  it? 

MR.  McINTYRE:  Mr.  President,  I  will  have  about  eight  hundred 
of  them  there!  (Laughter.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     About  ten? 

MR.  McINTYRE:  About  eight  hundred!  On  this  proposition  the 
merits  of  the  selection  have  been  discussed  pretty  thoroughly  by  men 
better  qualified  than  I  to  discuss  this,  but  one  thought  occurs  to  me  as 
an  operating  proposition  for  the  Convention  itself.  If  we  had  this 
show  I  think  we  should  arrange  to  have  each  delegate  decorated  with 
a  badge  on  his  arrival  at  the  Convention,  and  then  instruct  those  in 
charge  of  the  exhibit  to  admit  no  man  not  wearing  a  badge  at  hours  when 
the  Convention  is  in  session.  I  give  you  the  facts  on  which  I  am  basing 
this  argument.  Since  coming  here  thi_s  evening  I  have  been  making  a 
list.  I  have  twelve  names  on  this  list  of  Utah  members,  whom  I  know 
to  be  in  San  Francisco.  I  have  seen  them.  We  have  had  as  many  as 
four  this  morning  at  one  meeting.  That  is  our  record.  This  afternoon 
I  desired  to  see  some  of  them,  so  I  failed  to  come  to  the  Convention 
this  afternoon  myself,  and  went  up  to  see  them  on  business  of  interest 
to  the  Convention,  and  found  three  of  them  in  the  Palace  of  Mines.  That 
building  covers,  I  should  say,  about  ten  acres,  and  this  was  mining 
week,  and  very  busy,  and  I  think  it  is  very  significant  that  I  should 
go  out  there  and  find  three  Utah  men,  and  the  others  were  probably 
there!  It  shows  the  attraction  a  mining  show  has  for  mining  men,  if 
running  at  all  times.  I  think  we  should  see  that  it  does  not  operate  to 
the  detriment  of  the  Congress  itself.  I  am  offering  that  simply,  as  I 
said,  as  an  operating  feature  of  the  Convention. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  The  man  that  will  have  the  biggest  end 
of  this  work  to  do,  and  perhaps  all  of  it,  is  the  Secretary  of  the  Congress, 
and  I  would  like  to  have  him  say  something  more  on  the  subject  before 
we  come  to  a  vote. 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  President,  I  am  in  favor  of 
the  plan  proposed,  although  I  realize  that  it  will  entail  an  enormous 
amount  of  work  and  responsibility.  I  am  not  sure  there  would  be  any- 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  93 

thing  left  of  me  by  the  time  it  is  over.  I  do  believe  that  the  plan  pro- 
posed presents  a  number  of  advantages. 

In  the  first  instance,  I  believe  it  would  help  us  financially.  In 
the  second  instance,  and  more  important,  I  believe  that  it  will  give  us 
an  opportunity  to  educate  the  public  as  to  the  methods  of  mining,  the 
economic  principles  underlying  the  mining  industry,  and  bring  to  us 
that  greater  sympathy  of  the  public  which  is  essential.  I  believe  it 
will  bring  the  men  who  are  interested  directly  in  the  mining  business 
into  closer  sympathy  with  our  efforts,  and  thereby  strengthen  our  work 
thereafter.  I  believe  it  will  bring  many  men  together  in  such  a  way 
as  to  create  a  more  fraternal  feeling  between  the  members  of  the  mining 
industry  and  the  other  industries  indirectly  interested  in  the  success  of 
mining. 

The  gentleman  from  Arizona  has  outlined  the  conditions  there, 
where  the  farmer  realizes  the  advantage  to  him  of  having  a  market  close 
by  for  his  products,  and  the  miner  is  brought  to  realize  it  is  an  advan- 
tage to  him  to  be  able  to  buy  his  farm  products  at  a  close-by  point  with- 
out the  addition  of  an  enormous  freight  rate.  This  idea  was  in  mind 
when  the  American  Mining  Congres^s  was  organized.  The  preamble  to 
the  By-Laws  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  includes  these  words: 
''To  promote  a  more  co-operative  tendency  in  the  evolution  of  agricul- 
ture, mining,  manufacturing,  transportation  and  commerce;  and  for  the 
particular  purpose  of  bringing  the  mining  men  of  the  United  States  into 
closer  relation  with  one  another,  and  of  promoting  a  friendly  feeling  for 
one  another  through  social  intercourse  and  the  discussion  of  mutual 
interests." 

As  the  Mining  Congress  work  has  developed  we  can  appreciate  the 
vision  of  the  framers  of  that  preamble,  which  for  many  years  was  as 
sounding  brass.  A  mining  show  will  give  us  an  opportunity  to  work  out 
educational  problems  for  the  public  in  a  way  that  cannot  be  done  in 
any  other  manner. 

I  believe  if  we  begin  now,  that  we  may  have  a  convention  of  five 
thousand  delegates,  and  let  us  now  set  that  as  our  goal,  and  make  our- 
selves a  committee  to  see  to  it  that  we  will  have  as  many  delegates  pres- 
ent at  our  Convention  as  there  are  people  interested  in  mining  in  the 
United  States. 

We  should  demonstrate  to  both  West  and  East  the  necessity  of  de- 
veloping the  latent  mineral  resources  of  the  West,  so  that  when  these 
big  mining  operations  now  in  progress  have  exhausted  their  resources, 
there  will  be  other  mines  ready  for  the  employment  of  the  capital  and 
skill  and  brains  and  energy  and  labor  now  so  employed.  It  is  a  vital 
question  to  the  West,  and  is  equally  vital  to  the  East.  One  of  the  im- 
portant questions  which  has  to  do  with  our  industrial  life  is  the  question 
of  money.  Just  at  this  particular  time,  through  a  world  war,  the  United 
States  is  gathering  to  itself  the  gold  of  the  world,  but  we  cannot  keep  it. 
The  gold  of  the  world  is  coming  into  our  treasury,  but  it  will  have  to  go 
back  again,  because  other  nations  will  require  a  basis  for  their  currency 
system.  Gold  will  go  to  that  point  where  it  commands  the  highest  pre- 
mium. 

We  should  demonstrate  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  the  ne- 
cessity of  the  development  of  the  mining  resources  of  the  West.  There 
are  thousands  of  methods  by  which  we  should  carry  on  an  educational 
campaign,  and  I  believe  this  show,  if  it  has  the  support  of  the  mining 
industry,  will  bring  out  the  best  thoughts  of  those  who  are  interested 
in  this  great  question  of  the  development  of  the  mining  resources  of 
this  country,  and  that  is  the  special  mission  of  the  American  "Mining 
Congress.  I  thank  you. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Gentlemen,  we  have  heard  from  every 
one  in  the  room,  but  for  the  purpose  of  closing  our  records,  I  will  now 
call  for  a  vote  on  the  resolution  that  the  directors  be  requested  to  select 
Chicago  as  the  next  point  of  meeting  of  the  Convention,  and  the  mining 
show. 


94  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

The  motion  was  thereupon  duly  put  and  carried. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  It  is  so  ordered.  Is  there  any  other 
business  to  come  before  this  Members'  Meeting  tonight? 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  If  any  member  has  anything  that 
he  thinks  we  ought  to  do,  now  would  be  a  good  time  to  tell  us.  Mr. 
Allen  is  full  of  suggestions. 

MR.  ALLEN:  It  is  nothing  of  any  importance,  but  the  remarks 
of  the  Secretary  about  increasing  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  mining 
investments,  brought  to  my  mind  the  question  of  the  regulation  of  stock 
issued  by  mining  companies.  In  other  words,  blue  sky  legislation.  A 
few  years  ago  a  blue  sky  law  was  passed  in  Michigan.  The  Federal 
courts  promptly  disposed  of  it.  A  committee  of  the  Attorneys  General  of 
the  various  states  then  drafted  a  blue  sky  law  that  they  believed  would 
stand  before  the  Federal  courts.  Mr.  Fellows,  the  Attorney  General  of 
Michigan,  was  the  Chairman  of  this  committee.  It  was  passed  by  Mich- 
igan, and  I  think  some  other  states  last  winter.  This  law  has  already 
been  attacked  in  the  Federal  courts.  In  our  brief  experience  in  Michigan 
we  have  found  that  the  mining  brokers  are  hostile  to  these  blue  sky 
laws.  Under  the  present  Michigan  law  a  mining  company  that  wants 
to  sell  stocks  or  bonds  must  obtain  permission  from  a  body  known  as 
the  Michigan  Securities  Commission.  They  are  required  to  "file  a  state- 
ment and  if  necessary  submit  to  an  examination  of  their  properties,  their 
books  and  their  entire  project,  by  a  competent  agent  of  the  Commission 
and  to  pay  the  expense  of  such  examinations.  I  believe  that  if  some 
such  regulation  were  country-wide  it  would  quickly  solve  the  difficulty 
of  floating  reputable  mining  enterprises.  The  people  look  askance  at 
new  issues  because  they  have  been  loaded  with  so  much  worthless  paper. 
Of  course  no  one  expects  a  governmental  commission  to  guarantee 
profits.  The  investor  does,  however,  want  to  be  protected  against 
crooked  promotion  of  worthless  properties.  Many  people  like  to  gamble 
in  mining  stocks  and  will  take  a  long  chance  on  a  fair,  straightforward, 
business  proposition.  They  wan,t  a  fair  run  for  their  money;  that's  all.  I 
think  this  Congress  has  a  committee  on  mining  investments.  I  do  not 
know  whether  they  are  making  an  examination  of  blue  sky  legislation, 
but  I  think  that's  a  subject  that  might  well  engage  the  attention  of  this 
Congress,  and  the  serious  attention  of  the  Convention. 

MR.  McINTYRE:  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen:'  Just  a  word  on 
that  subject.  I  am  not  a  mine  promoter — just  a  miner,  but  I  have  had, 
not  the  pleasure,  by  a  long  sight — the  necessity  of  going  out  and  selling 
mining  stock  to  develop  a  mine.  We  put  our  rrjine  thirty-eight  hundred 
feet  into  a  mountain;  it  has  taken  us  fifteen  years  to  do  it,  my  brother 
>and  I,  both  of  us  being  miners.  It  has  taken  us,  as  I  say,  fifteen  years 
to  do  it,  and  out  of  the  fifteen  we  worked  six.  When  we  got  out  of 
money  we  closed  down,  and  went  out  and  secured  new  funds  to  continue 
the  work.  I  sold  the  stock  in  the  East — New  York,  Pittsburgh,  Pennsyl- 
vania, New  York  and  Ohio — all  through  the  East.  I  went  up  into  Michi- 
gan; they  had  a  blue  sky  law.  I  went  to  a  friend  of  mine  there,  our  at- 
torney, and  asked  him  to  give  me  details.  I  did  not  know  much  about 
these  things,  of  course.  This  friend  gave  me  an  outline.  I  had  to  go 
to  Lansing,  the  capital,  to  file  my  bill;  had  to  pay  a  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  to  an  attorney,  and  there  were  a  whole  lot  of  details  I  .cannot 
call  to  mind  just  at  present;  but  our  corporation  was  a  little  different 
from  any  other,  I  guess,  in  the  United  States.  It  was  not  started  out  as 
a  corporation,  but  was  turned  into  one  later.  It  is  capitalized  at  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  My  brother  and  I  took  sixty  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  every  miner  is  a  stockholder.  I  made  a  proposition  to  our 
stockholders,  and  they  sold  stock  and  got  a  commission.  I  did  not  want 
a  commission,  but  only  wanted  money  enough  to  do  the  work.  Accord- 
ing to  the  law  of  Michigan  every  stockholder  is  a  part  owner.  I  had 
to  send  their  auditors  down  there,  and  it  cost  seven  dollars  a  day;  we 
had  to  pay  seven  dollars  a  day  from  the  time  they  left  Lansing  until 
they  got  back  there  to  audit  the  books,  not  only  our  main  office  books, 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  95 

i 

but  the  books  that  I  kept,  of  every  one  of  these  stockholders.  Now,  that 
was  a  hardship.  I  know  of  my  own  knowledge  of  seventy  corporations 
that  pulled  out  of  Michigan  and  went  to  Canada.*  In  Ohio  they  started 
the  same  kind  of  a  law,  based  on  the  Michigan  law,  and  that  went  to  the 
Supreme  court.  I  do  not  know  whether  it  was  repealed  or  not. 

Now,  if  they  can  get  a  simple  law  that  will  provide  the  investor 
and  the  honest  miner  with  the  information  desired  it  would  be  a  grand 
thing. 

The  blue  sky  law  today,  as  it  exists  in  Ohio  and  Michigan,  is  one 
grand  failure. 

MR..WOLCOTT:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  would  like  to  ask  Mr.  Allen 
what  the  personnel  of  your  commission  is — that  is,  what  businesses  were 
the  individuals  in  previous  to  their  appointment  on  the  commission? 

MR.  ALLEN:  The  Michigan  Commission  consists  of  the  Attorney 
General,  the  Commissioner  of  Banking,  and  the  State  Treasurer!  (Laugh- 
ter.) 

MR.  WOLCOTT:  Mr.  Chairman,  that  is  the  objection  of  the 
West  to  the  blue  sky  laws.  They  start  out  by  putting  a  man  on  the 
commission  who  is  opoosed  to  mining  investment,  no  ma.tter  where  it 
comes  from,  or  how  good  it  is,  because  he  thinks  it  comes  in  conflict 
with  the  banking  interests. 

A  DELEGATE:     Yes,  sir. 

MR.  WOLCOTT  (continuing):  I  heard  a  banker  in  one  of  these 
Western  states,  a  man  who  had  made  a  fortune  out  of  mining  in  Col- 
orado, say  that  a  mine  is  not  security  for  any  kind  of  a  loan.  Now  that's 
the  kind  of  a  man  in  most  of  our  states  who  is  selected  to  say  whether  it 
is  safe  or  not  to  invest  in  a  mining  deal.  Now,  the  mining  man  has  no 
objection  to  the  world  at  large  knowing  exactly  what  he  is  doing  with 
the  money  that  he  raised  to  develop  the  mine. 

MR.  ALLEN:  Mr.  President,  I  feel  that  the  Michigan  Securities 
Commission  ought  to  have  some  defense!  (Laughter.) 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:     Do  they  need  it? 

MR.  ALLEN:  Of  course,  those  men  are  not  grafters  at  all.  They 
have  a  sympathetic  attitude  towards  mining,  albeit  one  of  them  is  a 
banker.  I  am  not  sure  that  the  words  which  have  been  spoken  here  are 
the  consensus  of  opinion 'of  mining  men  the  country  over,  but  there 
seems  to  be  serious  misapprehension  about  what  the  Michigan  blue  sky 
law  is,  and  how  it  is  administered.  The  Michigan  Securities  Commis- 
sion does  not  undertake  to  guarantee  profits  to  anybody.  It  requires, 
however,  that  in  the  capitalization,  the  organization,  and  the  plan  of  the 
applicant  there  is  nothing  crooked.  Now,  to  illustrate  the  necessity — 
or  at  least  the  advisability — of  some  kind  of  regulation,  I  will  use  a  case 
which  recently  came  to  my  notice.  There  is  a  little  oil  in  Michigan. 
Two  or  three  years  ao-o  oil  of  high  grade  was  found  in  the  Saginaw  Val- 
ley. There  was  an  influx  of  people  from  Louisiana  and  other  states, 
some  of  whom  took  advantage  of  the  excitement  to  exploit  the  people 
rather  than  the  oil  pools.  For  instance,  a  certain  concern  bought  forty 
acres  of  land  from  a  Polish  priest.  They  divided  this  forty  acres  of 
land  up  into  a  large  number  of  small  parcels,  which  were  sold  outright 
at  ten  dollars  apiece.  (Laughter.)  There  were  enough  pieces  of  this 
land  on  forty  acres  to  make  a  capitalization  of  about  two  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars,  if  I  remember  rightly!  (Laughter.)  Of  this  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  the  priest,  we  will  say,  was  to  get  sixty  thousand 
dollars  for  his  forty  acres.  Of  the  remaining  hundred  and  forty  thou- 
sand dollars,  the  promoters  v^ere  to  get  about  seventy  thousand;  the  re- 
maining part  of  the  money  was  to  be  spent  in  drilling  on  this  forty 
acres.  We  had  no  blue  sky  law  at  that  time;  it  was  being  considered 
in  the  legislature,  and  was  passed  a  month  or  two  later.  This  concern 
was  put  out  of  business  by  a  mere  publication  of  the  facts  in  the  news- 
papers, but  if  the  blue  sky  law  had  been  operative  at  that  time  it  could 
never  have  got  started.  This  concern  could  not  live  in  the  light  of  day. 

It  is  one  kind  of  concern  that  the  Michigan  blue  sky  law  will  put 


96  OFFICIAL     PROCEEDINGS 

out  of  business.  Every  honest  mining  man  will  agree  that  such  con- 
cerns should  not  he  allowed  to  exist. 

I  think  the  condition  to  which  our  friend  refers  arises  from  the; 
fact  that  very  few  of  the  states  have  these  laws.  If  there  were  some 
general  legislation  of  this  kind,  there  would  be  no  necessity  for  charging 
seven  dollars  a  day  and  expenses  for  a  man  sent  from  one  state  to  an- 
other to  audit  books.  The  commission  in  one  state  would  merely  take 
the  certificate  of  the  commission  of  any  other  state  having  similat  regu- 
lations. If  there  were  some  kind  of  uniform  legislation,  the  expense  of 
administration  would  be  little.  In  Michigan  the  State  Geologist  is  often 
asked  to  co-operate  with  the  Securities  Commission.  In  the  case  of  local 
concerns  he  usually  has  ihformation  that  he  can  furnish  to  the  commis- 
sion at  practically  no  cost  to  the  operator.  He  merely  O.  K.'s  the  facts 
in  the  case  to  the  commission.  That  is  his  only  function.  Why,  I  think, 
gentlemen,  that  the  operators  ought  to  look  upon  reasonable  regulation 
with  sympathy,  and  not  with  antagonism.  It  is  a  means  of  putting  min- 
ing securities  more  nearly  on  a  par  with  other  securities. 

Now,  we  have  thought  that  the  Michigan  Securities  Commission 
ought  to  do  for  the  mining  industry  what  the  Michigan  Railroad  Com- 
mission has  clone  for  some  industrial  bonds  and  stocks.  The  certificate 
of  approval  of  the  Michigan  Railroad  Commission  helps  to  sell  the  se- 
curity. Without  it  the  securities  are  not  so  easily  salable.  Our  public 
utilities  corporations  look  upon  the  Michigan  Railroad  Commission  as 
the  best  friend  they  have.  You  could  not  abolish  that  commission  with 
their  consent.  The  approval  of  the  Michigan  Railroad  Commission  is 
a  guarantee  of  the  soundness  of  the  paper  they  have  to  sell.  Perhaps 
the  Michigan  Securities  Commission  may  some  day  attain  a  somewhat 
similar  standing. 

MR.  TALMAGE:  Mr.  Chairman,  it's  very  late.  I  merely  want 
to  suggest  for  Mr.  Mclntyre's  comfort  that  the  definition  of  a  mine  as 
quoted  by  Dr.  Phillips  was  quoted  in  its  original  form,  and  in  its  revised 
form  it  is  more  comforting — that  ''a  mine  is  a  hole  in  the  ground  owned 
by  an  optimist!"  (Laughter.)  And  I  think  Mr.  Mclntyre  and  his  brother 
have  demonstrated  the  soundness  of  this  definition. 

MR.  PHILLIPS:  Mr.  President,  I  have  a  new  definition  of  an 
optimist  that  I  would  like  to  submit  to  the  doctor,  namely,  that  "an  op- 
timist is  a  blind  man  looking  hopefully  in  a  dark  room  for  a  black  cat 
that  is  not  there!"  (Laughter.) 

SECRETARY  CALLBREATH:  Mr.  Chairman,  the  purpose  of  our 
committee  on  mining  investments  was  to  develop  some  general  plan 
which  would  accomplish  just  what  the  gentlemen  who  have  spoken  both 
for  arid  against  the  Michigan  law  desire  to  have  done,  namely,  that  the 
honest  promoter  of  a  fair  proposition  can  have  his  stock  made  more 
salable  by  virtue  of  the  approval  of  the  commission,  and  that  the  man 
who  is  attempting  to  rob  the  public  shall  be  prevented  from  so  doing. 
Our  Committee  on  Mining  Investments  developed  what  was  known  as 
the  Pardee  law,  as  the  then  best  method  by  which  we  might  protect  the 
industry.  That  law  provided  that  any  man,  who  made  a  misstatement 
concerning  the  mine,  or  any  other  feature  which  had  to  do  with  the 
value  of  the  stock  was  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor.  This  law  was  enacted 
by  fourteen  states. 

Now,  we  had  hoped  to  be  able  to  secure  the  passage  of  that  law 
by  other  states,  and  to  provide  assistance  to  the  prosecuting  authorities 
in  the  several  states.  Now,  our  committee  is  for  the  purpose  of  work- 
ing out  some  plan  by  which  the  honest  promoter  can  have  the  benefit 
of  some  investigation,  so  that  his  stocks  will  be  more  salable,  and  the 
dishonest  promoter  can  be  put  out  of  business. 

MR.  KIMBALL:  Mr.  Chairman,  we  have  the  Corporation  Com- 
mission in  Arizona  that  is  doing  effectual  work  along  this  line.  It  is 
protecting  the  investors.  It  is  the  privilege  of  any  community  or  in- 
dividual to  make  inquiry  of  the  Corporation  Commission  concerning  any 
corporation  promoter  or  any  individual  who  comes  into  the  state,  and 


AMERICAN     MINING     CONGRESS  97 

to  ask  how  about  the  corporation.  The  Corporation  Commission  stands 
between  the  investor  and  the  promoter.  I  believe  I  am  commencing  to 
appreciate  this  organization  more  than  I  ever  did  before,  especially  if 
there  are  fair-minded  me"n  on  the  commission,  who  will  act  as  arbitrators 
between  the  various  interests,  as  they  are  seemingly  doing  in  our  state, 
and  I  believe  they  are  bringing  very  good  results. 

MR.  WILLIS:  Mr.  Chairman,  I  should  like  to  answer  my  friend 
from  Arizona.  Incidentally,  I  am  from  the  same  state. 

The  Corporation  Commission  of  Arizona  is  composed  of  effective 
officers,  doing  their  required  work  well,  but  the  Corporation  Commission 
of  Arizona  does  not  investigate.  I  have  knowledge  of  three  companies 
who  were  put  out  of  business  for  illegal  transactions,  who  had  the  O.  K. 
of  the  commission.  The  Corporation  Commission  makes  no  pretense 
of  investigation. 

Now  the  name  "Arizona"  has  for  many  years  been  closely  associated 
with  "wildcat"  in  many  of  our  Eastern  cities.  There  are  some  counties 
in  Arizona  that,  owing  to  the  very  rich  mines  within  them,  have  so 
thoroughly  been  "wildcatted"  that  to  mention  them  in  the  East  almost 
prohibits  the  raising  of. capital.  The  Arizona  State  Bureau  of  Mines  has 
for  some  time  been  considering  a  plan  which  will  relieve  this  difficulty. 
It  has  some  objections  and  has  not  yet  been  adopted,  but  is  under  con- 
sideration at  the  present  time. 

Any  mining  company  that  is  going  to  promote  a  mine  within  the 
state  is  allowed  the  privilege  of  sending  to  the  State  Bureau  of  Mines 
and  have  an  engineer  sent  out  from  there  at  their  expense,  only  the 
actual  cost  being  charged.  No  report  is  issued,  or  no  prospectus  writ- 
ten, but  the  companies  are  then  privileged  to  refer  any  prospective  stock- 
holder to  the  State  Bureau  of  Mmes,  which  organization  will  only  advise 
as  to  the  legitimacy  of  the  operations.  The  plan  has  one  serious  objec- 
tion in  that  it  interferes  to  some  extent  with  the  regular  work  of  the 
consulting  engineer,  but  still  has  many  advantages  in  that  anyone  may 
feel  that  they  can  send  to  some  office  and  get  an  unbiased  opinion  of 
the  legitimacy  of  any  speculation. 

The  idea  that  a  stock  approved  by  the  Arizona  .State  Corporation 
Commission  carries  anything  with  it  is  not  correct;  -it  only  carries  with 
it  the  fact  that  the  promoters  themselves  could  get  .a  few  recommenda- 
tions from  a  few  prominent  men  in  the  state,  and  I  know  of  but  few 
people  who  could  not  get  such  recommendations. 

MR.  MACKENZIE:  May  I  say  just  a  word?  The  American  Bar 
Association  met  at  Salt  Lake  last  month.  They  are  endeavoring  to  ob- 
tain a  uniform  corporation  law  which  is  aimed  particularly  at  the  wild- 
cats. That  movement  is  commanding  the  best  thoughts  of  such  eminent 
and  public  men  as  Judge  Taft,  Senator  Root,  former  Senator  Bailey,  Sen- 
ator Lewis,  of  Illinois,  and  men  of  that  class,  and  it's  very  likely  that  the 
prestige  of  those  gentlemen  and  the  public  influence  that  they  command 
will  accomplish  something  along  the  line  suggested  by  Mr.  Allen  of  uni- 
form regulation  of  these  matters.  I  am  just  mentioning  that  by  way  of 
information,  in  case  you  have  not  noted  the  action,  the  American  Bar 
Association  took  on  that  matter. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Is  there  any  other  matter  to  come  be- 
fore this  meeting? 

MR.  TALMAGE:     I  move  we  adjourn. 

PRESIDENT  SCHOLZ:  Before  adjournment  is  taken  I  want  to 
announce  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Directors  in  Room  2001  in  this  hotel 
at  1  p.  m.  tomorrow.  Inasmuch  as  there  are  just  sufficient  directors  here 
to  make  a  quorum,  it  is  absolutely  essential  that  none  go  to  the  Fair 
grounds!  (laughter)  or  other  places,  but  report  promptly  at  1  p.  m.  in 
Room  2001. 

It  has  been  duly  moved  and  seconded,  I  believe,  that  the  Meeting 
of  Members  adjourn. 

The   motion  was   thereupon  duly  put  and   carried. 

Whereupon  the  Meeting  of  Members  was  adjourned  at  10:35 
o'clock  p.  m. 


The  President's  Annual  Address. 

CARL    SCHOLZ, 
CHICAGO,    ILL. 


An  appreciation  of  the  fitness  of  things  determined  the  Amer- 
ican Mining  Congress  to  hold  its  meeting  in  San  Francisco  this 
year,  and  to  participate  in  the  Exposition  which  celebrates  the 
completion  of  the  Panama  Canal. 

Mining  has  had  much  to  do  with  the  development  of  the  West 
and  hence  with  the  creation  of  those  conditions  which  made  the 
Canal,  in  a  home  sense,  advisable.  We  may  well  say  that  mining 
is  in  fact  responsible  for  the  discovery  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  or  at 
best  its  rediscovery  under  more  favorable  conditions.  Until  gold 
was  found  in  California,  the  vastness  of  the  Western  prairies,  the 
snow-capped  ridges  of  the  Rockies,  and  the  alkali  deserts  presented 
a  series  of  barriers  to  the  early  settlers  which  they  were  not  keen 
to  try  to  surmount.  To  cross  all  three  with  primitive  transportation 
facilities  was  a  problem  as  difficult  and  as  hazardous  as  the  sailing 
of  the  unknown  seas  by  Columbus  some  400  years  ago.  The  dis- 
covery of  gold,  however,  brought  a  great  number  of  people  to  the 
Pacific  slope,  and  California's  citiesx£rew  out  of  those  mining  camps. 
This  magnificent  city  is  one  of  the  results. 

Thus  mining  is  the  foster  parent  of  modern  California  and, 
indeed,  the  underlying  industry  of  the  West.  That  is  to  say,  the 
miners  and  prospectors  soon  learned  to.  appreciate  California's 
wonderful  climate  and  soon  learned  the  capabilities  of  its  soil.  This 
led  directly  to  that  great  agricultural  and  horticultural  development 
which  has  become  famous  the  world  over. 

With  the  double  productivity  of  the  State  proved,  the  railroads 
indulged  in  competitive  campaigns  looking  to  the  construction  of 
transcontinental  lines  to  bring  in  the  equipment  to  be  used  in  the 
mines  and  to  carry  away  the  products  of  the  soil.  Thus  began  the 
trade  exchange  on  which  California  grew. 

These  facts  are  mentioned  because  as  miners  we  are  proud 
of  the  strong  influence  which  our  industry  has  exerted  upon  a 
community  so  productive  of  great  wealth  that  it  finally  called  for 
and  brought  about  the  construction  of  the  Panama  Canal. 


PRESIDENT'S  ANNUAL  ADDRESS.  99 

We  have  an  interest  in  the  completion  of  the  Panama  Canal  as 
an  engineering  feat,  namely,  that  in  the  execution  of  the  work 
mining  methods  were  used,  such  as  dredging,  sludging  and  blasting. 
And,  without  the  use  of  cement,  which  is  also  a  product  of  mining, 
it  would  have  been  impossible  to  complete  this  work  without  ex- 
cessive cost  and  delay. 

California  is  truly  a  great  mining  State,  ranking  as  it  does  the 
fifth  producer  of  the  United  States,  with  an  annual  value  of  the 
production  of  over  $100,000,000.  This  is  more  than  the  output  of 
twenty  other  states.  And  the  growth  from  nothing  to  this  com- 
manding position  has  been  accomplished  in  less  than  seventy  years. 
It  is,  therefore,  proper  that  the  highest  tribute  should  be  paid  to  the 
representatives  of  the  mining  industry  in  this  State. 

We  are  becoming  accustomed  to  deal  in  very  large  figures  in 
this  country,  but  few  not  connected  with  f  the  mining  industry 
realize  that  the  value  of  the  mineral  products  of  the  United  States 
in  1913  was  in  excess  of  $2,500,000,000. 

This  convention  at  San  Francisco  was  called  mainly  for  the 
purpose  of  bringing  together  men  interested  in  mining  that  they 
may  appreciate  that  their  purposes  and  their  problems  are  one, 
even  though  their  technicalities  and  their  local  conditions  differ. 
To  this  end  we  afford  opportunity  for  brief  discussions,  believing 
that  with  the  ground  cleared  here  of  any  and  all  misgivings  the 
work  will  be  taken  up  more  actively  and  with  more  purpose  when 
we  return  to  our  respective  homes.  With  this  in  view,  the  list  of 
addresses  has  been  confined  to  the  most  urgent  and  important 
subjects.  In  keeping,  this  statement  of  your  president  is  restricted 
to  a  brief  review  of  the  accomplishments  of  the  year  and  to  a  few 
suggestions  touching  future  needs. 

The  year  just  closing  has  been  one  of  many  and  grave  per- 
plexities. The  European  war,  which  so  seriously  depressed  the 
metal  producing  industry  during  the  closing  months  o>f  1914,  re- 
sulted in  a  healthy  reaction  to  the  copper  and  other  metal  industries 
in  1915.  At  the  same  time  general  business  has  endured  a  depression 
which  had  a  detrimental  and  blighting  effect  upon  the  coal  industry. 
This  is  especially  true  of  the  Central  Western  States.  The  exports 
of  coal  from  the  Eastern  fields,  or  those  adjacent  to  the  seaboard, 
and  the  sales  of  coal  to  makers  of  war  materials,  have  in  part  offset 
the  domestic  trade  losses. 

To  relieve  their  distress,  strenuous  efforts  have  been  made  by 
the  coal  operators  of  Illinois  and  Indiana  to  devise  and  adopt  per- 


100          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

missible  co-operative  methods  that  would  introduce  economies  and 
eliminate  the  disastrous  and  wasteful  forms  of  competition,  while 
leaving  the  competitive  spirit  full  room  in  which  to  grow  healthfully. 

The  increased  use  of  water  power,  fuel  oil  and  gas,  the  con- 
solidation of  light  plants,  and  the  establishment  of  electrical  central 
.power  stations,  have  seriously  curtailed  the  use  of  coal  in  various 
sections.  These  things,  in  addition  to  the  unsettled  trade  conditions 
and  to  the  influences  growing  out  of  the  European  and  Mexican 
war  situations,  have  brought  about  a  serious  situation  for  many 
coal  fields ;  they  have  affected  employers  and  employes  alike.  The 
aid  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  which  came  into  existence 
on  April  i,  has  been  invoked  in  an  effort  to  find  a  solution  for  these 
problems.  But  the  Commission  feels  that,  as  now  constituted  and 
endowed,  it  has  no  power  to  deal  effectively  with  the  situation.  Even 
so,  it  is  deeply  in  sympathy  with  the  efforts  of  the  coal  owners. 

This  convention  will  be  addressed  by  the  ablest  men  in  the 
country  on  the  question  of  governmental  regulation  of  business, 
hence  it  is  not  necessary  to  elaborate  that  subject  here.  Suffice  it  to 
say  that  it  is  the  evident  tendency  that  we  are  to  become  a  govern- 
ment by  commissions ;  whether  this  will  meet  our  complex  needs  is 
one  of  the  grave  questions  of  the  hour.  Its  very  gravity  suggests 
that  it  should  be  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  consider  carefully  this 
subject  as  the  one  most  vital  to  his  welfare  and  to  the  very  existence 
of  our  form  of  government.  Meanwhile,  the  enactment  of  the  Clay- 
ton bill,  which  in  a  sense  permits  labor  to  do  the  very  thing  which 
the  Sherman  act  denies  to  capital,  suggests  a  growing  political 
tendency  to  distinguish  between  forms  of  employment,  degrees  of 
wealth  and  the  voting  strength  of  the  adherents  of  certain  ideas 
which — seeing  the  indefinite  and  uncertain  attitude  of  the  courts — 
strikes  at  the  very  foundation  of  oifr  government.  This  Congress 
has  been  nekher  an  antagonist  nor  a  protagonist  of  capital.  But  it 
does  stand  firm  on  the  doctrine  that  our  ^vernment  must  show 
partiality  to  neither.  It  insists  that  the  national  Congress  and  the 
State  Legislatures  shall  consider  these  economic  subjects  in  terms 
of  enduring  principle  and  not  in  terms  of  relative  voting  strength 
of  certain  partisans. 

It  is  not  our  belief  that  the  report  of  the  Commission  on  In- 
dustrial Relations  as  recently  published  was  expressive  fairly  of 
the  facts  considered  nor  of  any  attitude  which  our  government  can 
take.  Its  publication  as  a  public  document  can  work  only  mischief, 
and  in  consequence  it  is  deplored. 


PRESIDENT'S  ANNUAL^  ADtttfESS/'  '"'Wl 

Perhaps  no  social  or  economic  subject  has  been  so  generously 
discussed  as  the  propaganda  for  workmen's  compensation  acts. 
Laws  on  this  subject  have  been  operative  in  a  number  of  states  for 
several  years.  This  subject  has  been  discussed  frequently  on  this 
floor,  and  undoubtedly  the  statements  here  made  have  given  helpful 
direction  to  many  efforts  to  make  these  laws  sane.  Even  so,  there  is 
great  lack  of  uniformity  and  there  is  need  that  we  address  ourselves 
to  that  subject  at  once.  For  example,  it  is  clear  now  that  the  com- 
pulsory feature,  injected  into  the  laws  of  several  states,  does  not 
meet  the  approval  of  either  the  employers  or  the  employes.  This 
needs  to  be  changed. 

Also,  employers  generally  believe  that  the  industry  should  bear 
the  cost  of  its  accidents,  but  in  many  instances  the  decisions  made 
by  State  Commissions  are  manifestly  unreasonable  and  result  in 
litigation  and  ill  will,  which  is,  not  desired  by  the  employers  and 
cannot  be  beneficial  to  the  employes.  A  better  way  than  now  exists 
generally  must  be  found  for  collecting  and  administering  any  fund 
collected  for  this  purpose. 

The  attitude  of  the  government  in  endeavoring  to  obtain  in- 
formation which  will  assist  it  to  find  a  solution  for  some  of  our 
vexing  industrial  problems  is  deserving  of  our  commendation  and 
should  have  our  co-operation.  The  activities  of  the  Federal  Trade 
Commission  are  especially  commendable  in  many  directions,  but  in 
no  one  way  more  so  than  when  it  advised  industries  generally  to 
adopt  standardized  accounting  for  the  ready  and  accurate  com- 
parison of  competing  units  and  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  costs. 

The  co-operation  existing  between  the  Bureau  of  Mines  and  the 
Geological  Survey  and  the  mining  industry  should  be  furthered  by 
asking  suitable  appropriations  for  this  work.  In  addition  to  the 
safety  and  life  saving  features  and  rescue  work,  the  complete 
utilization  of  our  mineral  resources  should  be  encouraged.  The 
great  need  for  coal  tar  products  and  its  adoption  for  the  separation 
of  ores  by  the  flotation  process  and  other  problems  resulting  in 
greater  economy  are  deserving  of  the  closest  attention.  Co-operation 
with  the  Federal  Trade  Commission  in  solving  the  problems  of  fair 
and  unfair  competition  and  an  extension  of  trade  relations  is  desired. 

The  question  of  control  of  the  mineral  resources,  now  with- 
drawn by  the  government,  is  of  the  utmost  importance.  The  present 
status  is  seemingly  unsatisfactory  to  a  great  number,  and  it  would 
seem  advisable  to  bring  the  needs  of  the  affected  areas  fairly  before 


102?.  -  •  '^)C^EliNGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

Congress  to  settle  the  present  chaos  with  as  little  delay  as  possible 
and  with  justice  and  fairness  to  those  directly  affected. 

Reference  to  the  development  of  the  mining  industry  and  the 
conservation  of  life  and  limb  to  those  engaged  therein  would  not 
be  complete  without  recalling  the  untimely  death  of  the  first  director 
of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines,  who,  as  a  life  member  of 
this  Congress,  was  one  of  its  staunchest  supporters.  A  special 
session  will  be  held  on  Tuesday,  September  21,  in  commemoration 
of  Dr.  Joseph  A.  Holmes. 

Death  has  also  claimed  other  prominent  members  during  the 
year.  The  West,  in  the  death  of  Colonel  Thomas  Cruse,  has  lost 
a  prominent  figure  in  the  metal  mining  industry;  the  Southwest, 
Mr.  James  Elliott,  who  was  our  vice-president  for  Oklahoma  and 
one  of  the  leading  figures  in  that  section. 

It  is  gratifying  to  say  that  notwithstanding  the  serious  business 
depression,  the  finances  of  the  American  Mining  Congress  are  in  a 
healthy  condition,  and  this  in  the  face  of  the  great  drains  upon  our 
resources  resulting  from  the  expenses  arising  from  the  publication 
of  the  "Mining  Congress  Journal."  This  has  proved  a  valuable  aid 
to  this  organization,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  the  many  favorable 
comments  received. 

The  organization  of  several  new  State  Chapters  prompts  the 
opinion  that  we  are  making  headway,  but  it  is  evident  that  only  by 
continued  and  unceasing  efforts  will  we  be  able  to  accomplish  our 
aim. 

The  cordial  co-operation  accorded  me  by  the  membership  and 
the  directors  and  officers  is  gratefully  acknowledged. 


What  the  Bureau  of  Mines  in  the  Department  of  the  Interior  is 

Doing  and  Hopes  to  Do  for  the  Metalliferous 

Mining  Industry. 

BY   VAN    H.    MANNING, 
DIRECTOR  OF  THE  BUREAU  OF  MINES,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


Before  making  a  general  statement  of  what  the  Bureau  of 
Mines  of  the  Department  of  the  Interior  has  done,  is  doing,  and 
hopes  to  do  for  the  metalliferous  industries,  I  shall  call  attention  to 
the  purpose  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines  as  conceived  by  the  late  director 
of  the  bureau,  Dr.  Joseph  A.  Holmes,  arid  as  embodied  in  the  organic 
act  outlining  the  bureau's  duties.  This  purpose,  which  has  the  loyal 
support  of  the  present  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  is  to  conduct  in 
behalf  of  the  public  welfare  such  fundamental  inquiries  and  inves- 
tigations as  will  lead  to  increased  safety,  efficiency  and  economy  in 
the  mining  and  metallurgical  industries  of  the  United  States.  Such 
investigations  must  of  necessity  be  general  in  scope  and  national  in 
character. 

A  basic  principle  underlying  the  work  of  the  bureau  is  that  the 
investigations  it  conducts  and  the  recommendations  it  makes  are  not 
for  the  benefit  of  private  enterprises  or  properties.  The  bureau 
stands  for  all  alike,  and  its  investigations  concern  the  mining  in- 
dustry as  a  whole. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  you  men  from  the  West,  especially  those  of 
you  interested  in  the  mining  and  treatment  of  ores  and  metals,  ask 
what  you  may  expect  from  the  bureau  and  what  it  hopes  to  do  for 
the  industries  you  represent.  For  this  reason  you  may  wish  to  know 
something  of  the  history  of  the  bureau  and  the  causes  that  led  up 
to  its  establishment. 

The  work  of  the  bureau  was  initiated  with  fuel  investigations  , 
in  1904  and  mine  accident  investigation  was  begun  in  1908  under  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey.  The  segregation  of  this  work 
and  further  enlargement  under  the  Bureau  of  Mines  became  effective 
July  i,  1910.  Under  the  Geological  Survey  fuels  and  structural  ma- 
terials were  tested  and  investigations  of  the  causes  and  the  preven- 
tion of  coal-mine  explosions  were  begun.  The  creation  of  the  bureau 


104          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

was  due  primarily  to  a  general  desire  for  the  extension  of  the  work 
into  metal  mining  and  other  new  fields. 

During  the  past  five  years — the  life  of  the  bureau — its  chief 
work  under  the  wording  of  appropriations  made  by  Congress  has 
been  centered  on  efforts  to  bring  about  greater  safety  in  coal  mines, 
by  testing  and  approving  better  types  of  explosives,  miners'  lamps 
and  electrical  and  other  equipment,  and  by  recommending  safer 
methods.  The  first  appropriation  for  inquiries  and  investigations 
into  the  mining  and  treatment  of  ores  and  other  mineral  substances, 
with  special  reference  to  safety  and  waste,  was  not  made  until  1912. 
Prior  to  this  appropriation  the  bureau  was  able  from  other  appropri- 
ations, although  these  were  inadequate  even  for  urgently  needed  in- 
vestigations relating  to  coal  mining,  to  conduct  preliminary  inquiries 
of  a  few  metal-mining  problems  because  of  the  bearing  of  'these 
problems  on  the  coal-mining  investigations.  However,  as  the  ap- 
propriations for  metal  mines  and^netallurgical  work  are  small,  the 
bureau's  work  has  been  confined  largely  to  investigations  of  coal- 
mine accidents  and  the  study  of  preventive  measures  that,  if  adopted, 
will  save  many  lives  and  much  suffering  among  miners  each  year. 

The  more  important  work  that  the  bureau  has  done  in  relation 
to  the  metal-mining  industry  is  briefly  summarized  here : 
Benefits  from  Metal- Mining  Investigations. 

The  bureau  has  studied  the  smelter-smoke  problem  with  the 
purpose  of  aiding  the  development  of  methods  whereby  damage  to 
vegetation  from  smelter  fumes  may  be  greatly  lessened,  if  not  pre- 
vented, and  smelters  that  are  now  closed  by  litigation  over  such 
damages  may  be  enabled  to  operate  and  to  take  ores  from  mines 
now  idle  through  lack  of  a  market. 

Investigations  of  the  effects  of  silicious  rock  dust  in  mine  air 
have  shown,  in  one  important  lead  anti  zinc  mining  district,  an  ex- 
cessive prevalence  of  silicosis  and  tuberculosis  from  breathing  air 
containing  such  dust,  and  have  resulted  in  remedial  measures  being 
originally  undertaken  by  mining  companies  and  state  officials. 

A  method  of  concentrating  the  carnotite  ores  of  Utah  and 
Colorado  has  been  devised  by  which  thousands  of  tons  of  material 
that  under  former  methods  would  have  been  allowed  to  go  to  waste 
have  been  utilized  and  thus  become  a  source  of  profit  to  the  miner. 

A  process  has  been  perfected  by  which  radium,  needed  for  the 
treatment  of  cancy  and  other  malignant  diseases  by  Government 
hospitals,  can  be  recovered  from  these  carnotite  ores  at  a  cost  that 
is  one-third  of  the  price  formerly  asked  by  foreign  producers. 

Investigations  of  explosives  for  use  in  metal  mines  have  shown 


BUREAU  OF  MINES  AND  METALLIFEROUS  MINING.     105 

the  need  of  explosives  giving  off  minimum  amounts  of  noxious 
fumes,  and  have  led  to  the  manufacture  of  improved  types  of  ex- 
plosives. 

The  bureau  has  published  as  a  basis  for  the  increase  of  safety 
in  metal  mining  an  annual  statement  of  accidents  in  metal  mines 
and  metallurgical  works  in  which,  for  the  first  time,  accidents  in 
these  industries  have  been  grouped  by  states  and  causes,  so  they  can 
be  directly  compared. 

Investigations  of  mine  lamps  have  shown  the  advantages  of 
acetylene  and  electric  lamps  for  metal  miners,  and  are  resulting  in 
such  lights  replacing  candles  and  torches,  which  have  caused  many 
fires  in  mines. 

Extension  of  mine  rescue  and  safety  training  into  metal-mining 
districts  has  resulted  in  hundreds  of  metal  miners  being  trained  in 
first-aid  and  mine-rescue  methods,  and  has  stimulated  the  formation 
of  mine-rescue  corps  and  the  purchase  of  first-aid  and  rescue  equip- 
ment by  mining  companies. 

Studies  of  tungsten  and  molybdenum  ores  by  the  bureau  are 
developing  improved  processes  qf  concentration,  which,  it  is  be- 
lieved, will  make  possible  the  profitable  reopening  of  many  small 
mines  now  idle. 

Studies  of  methods  of  concentrating  lead  and  zinc  ores  have 
shown  mine  owners  where  losses  occur,  and  how  a  greater  per- 
centage of  the  metal  in  the  ores  can  be  reclaimed. 

Titaniferous  iron  ores  have  been  investigated  in  order  to  de- 
termine the  practicability  of  separating  the  iron  and  titanium  min- 
erals by  electric  concentrators,  and  also  the  possibility  of  smelting 
such  ores  directly  in  blast  furnaces,  the  purpose  of  these  investi- 
gations being  to  help  make  available  as  sources  of  iron  large  de- 
posits of  titaniferous  ores  now  unworked. 

An  investigation  of  methods  of  treating  low-grade  complex 
ores  such  as  are  found  in  many  districts  throughout  the  Rocky 
Mountain  States  is  showing  what  methods  may  be  commercially 
used  for  recovering  metals  in  these  ores  and  thereby  make  available 
millions  of  tons  of  ore  now  unworked. 

A  study  of  the  causes  of  mine  fires  has  shown  how  many  metal- 
mine  fires  have  started,  and  the  bureau  has  pointed  out  the  precau- 
tions to  be  taken  against  such  fires  and  the  best  methods  of  fighting 
them. 

Studies  of  ventilation  in  metal  mines,  though  of  a  preliminary 
character,  have  shown  the  need  in  many  metal  mines  of  better 
methods  of  ventilation  in  mines. 


106          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

An  investigation  of  placer-mining  methods,  now  in  progress, 
has  already  shown  how  some  of  the  losses  of  precious  metals  at 
gold  dredges  can  be  obviated  or  prevented. 

The  bureau  has  given  much  attention  to  the  development  of 
laws  to  increase  safety  in  mining,  and  has  just  published  compre- 
hensive rules  for  metal  mines,  which  are  intended  as  a  guide  for 
State  officials  and  officials  of  mining  companies  in  framing  better 
laws  and  regulations. 

The  bureau's  fuel-testing  investigations  are  showing  how 
greater  economies  can  be  effected  in  generating  power  for  mines 
and  mills,  and  how  low-grade  fuels  can  be  used  advantageously  in 
regions  where  high-grade  fuels  are  costly. 

In  presenting  this  summary  of  accomplishments,  I  wish  you  to 
understand  that  I  do  not  claim  that  they  represent  the  work  of  the 
bureau  alone.  The  active  co-operation  of  other  Government  bureaus, 
of  State  inspection  departments,  and  finally,  and  most  important,  co- 
operation with  many  individuals  is  gratefully  acknowledged. 

Safety  Work  of  the  Bureau. 

I  do  not  feel  that  I  am  claiming  too  great  credit  for  Dr.  Holmes 
when  I  say  that  he  chiefly  was  responsible  for  the  nation-wide  prog- 
ress of  the  "Safety  First''  movement,  which  has  now  reached  every 
industry  in  the  country.  His  belief  that  safety  implies  efficiency 
and  that  true  efficiency  insures  safety  is  shown  by  the  motto  that  he 
adopted  for  the  Bueau  of  Mines — "Safety  and  Efficiency"  in  the 
mineral  industries.  His  keen  realization  that  the  bureau  by  itself 
could  do  little  to  insure  improvement  is  shown  by  the  following  ex- 
tract from  his  last  annual  report : 

"In  conducting  its  campaign  for  the  increase  of  safety  and 
efficiency  in'  the  mining  industries  there  has  been  adopted  the  follow- 
ing general  plan  of  co-operation  between  the  National  Government 
and  other  larger  agencies  :  ( i )  That  the  National  Government  con- 
duct the  necessary  general  inquiries  and  investigations  in  relation  to 
mining  industries,  and  disseminate  in  such  manner  as  may  prove 
most  effective  the  information  obtained  and  the  conclusions  reached ; 
(2)  that  each , State  enact  needed  legislation  and  make  ample  pro- 
vision for  the  proper  inspection  of  mining  operations  within  its 
Borders;  (3)  that  the  mine  owners  introduce  improvements  with  a 
view  to  increasing  safety  and  reducing  waste  of  resources  as  rap- 
idly as  the  practicability  of  such  improvements  is  demonstrated;  and 
(4)  that  the  miners  and  mine  managers  co-operate  both  in  making 
and  in  enforcing  safety  rules  and  regulations  as  rapidly  as  these 


BUREAU  OR  MINES  AND  METALLIFEROUS  MINING.     107 

are  shown  to  be  practicable.  The  States,  the  miners  and  mine 
owners,  and  other  agencies,  such  as  the  mining  and  engineering  so- 
cieties, are  now  showing  a  commendable  willingness  to  co-operate 
with  the  National  Government  in  this  work." 

I  sincerely  hope  that  the  spirit  of  co-operation  which  Dr. 
Holmes  aroused  will  continue  to  spread  and  grow  greater  and  that 
the  bureau  may  work  in  full  sympathy  with  the  desires  of  the  mining 
industries  of  the  country. 

Nezv  Mining  Experiment  Stations. 

The  need  of  mining  experiment  stations  through  which  the  Fed- 
eral Government  could  extend  to  mining  some  measure  of  the  liberal 
aid  it  has  long  given  that  other  basic  industry,  agriculture,  by  the 
establishment  of  52  agricultural  experiment  stations  and  the  ex- 
penditure of  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars,  was  strongly  presented 
to  Congress  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  and  as  a  resudt  of  the 
sympathetic  interest  of  Secretary  Lane  in  the  efforts  made  by  Dr. 
Holmes  for  the  betterment  of  mining  an  act  providing  for  the  es- 
tablishment and  maintenance  of  10  mining-experiment  stations  and 
7  mine-safety  stations  in  addition  to  those  already  established  was 
passed  at  the  last  session  of  Congress.  The  enactment  of  this 
legislation,  the  last  in  which  he  \vas  actively  interested,  stands  pre- 
eminently as  a  monument  to  the  creative  force  and  energy  of  Dr. 
Holmes. 

The  conduct  of  experimental  work  for  the  whole  metal-mining 
industry  from  one  central  station  in.  one  of  the  metal-mining  States 
was  seen  to  be  impracticable  because  of  the  vast  area  over  which 
the  ores  are  scattered,  the  varied  nature  of  the  ores  and  the  con- 
ditions under  which  they  must  be  developed.  Therefore,  when 
the  plan  of  establishing  several  stations  was  approved,  it  was  de- 
cided that  the  greater  number  of  these  stations  should  be  located 
in  the  Western  States.  It  is  expected  that  each  State  in  which  a 
station  is  located  will  co-operate  in  the  study  of  mining  problems  by 
supplementing  the  appropriations  to  be  made  by  Congress,  the 
States'  efforts  being  directed  to  such  investigations  as  are  distinctly 
local  in  character,  while  the  Federal  Government  investigates  those 
problems  that  are  more  general  and  national  in  character  and  im- 
portance. Under  the  terms  of  the  act  three  of  these  mining-experi- 
ment stations  are  to  be  established  each  year  under  the  appropria- 
tion made  therefor. 

Production  of  Radium — Treatment  of  Carnotite  Ores. 
Some  of  the  more  notable  achievements  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines 


108          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MININQ  CONGRESS  , 

I  have  already  mentioned.  One  of  these  is  the  production  of  radium 
on  a  commercial  scale  from  Colorado  ores  by  a  process  that  is  much 
cheaper  than  other  processes  and  is  cheaper  even  than  was  predicted 
by  the  bureau.  By  this  process  i  gram  of  radium  can  be  produced 
by  the  bureau  at  a  cost  of  $36,500,  this  figure  including  cost  of  ore. 
insurance,  repairs,  amortization  allowance  for  plant  and  equipment 
and  all  other  incidental  expenses.  I  hope  that  you  will  not  think 
that  I  have  any  desire  to  boast  of  what  the  bureau  has  done,  but 
when  you  remember  that  radium  has  been  selling  for  $120,000  to 
$160,000  per  gram,  this  accomplishment  of  the  bureau  will,  I  trust, 
seem  worth  while. 

The  first  important  result  of  the  bureau's  radium  investigations 
was  to  increase  the  price  the  miner  received  from  the  foreign 
buyers  of  the  ore.  When  the  radium  investigations  began  in  1912 
carnotite  ore  carrying  2  per  cent  uranium  oxide  was  selling  at  ap- 
proximately $75  per  ton  f.  o.  b.  New  York,  a  figure  that  certainly 
did  not  pay  the  cdst  of  mining  and  shipment.  During  1913  and  the 
early  part  of  1914,  through  information  the  bureau  published  in 
regard  to  the  export  of  American  ores  and  the  value  of  these  ores, 
the  price  increased  and  had  fully  doifbled  by  the  time  the  European 
war  began. 

The  ores  from  which  this  rare  metal  is  extracted  are  few  and 
the  deposits  are  not  inexhaustible.  For  this  reason  it  is  highly  de- 
sirable that  the  Government  take  action  that  will  prevent  so  much  of 
this  ore  as  now  remains  in  its  possession  from  being  wasted  or  mo- 
nopolized. The  only  fields  of  carnotite  ore  known  today  are  in 
Colorado  and  Utah,  and  these  fields  cannot  supply  ore  for  many 
years  of  such  mining  as  prevailed  at  the  beginning  of  the  European 
war.  Meanwhile,  the  demand  for  radium  is  bound  to  increase  rap- 
idly as  the  value  of  the  radium  emanation  in  the  treatment  of  dis- 
ease is  demonstrated.  By  its  use  some  of  our  eminent  surgeons 
liave  obtained  remarkable  cures  of  cancer. 

Having  thus  briefly  called  attention  to  some  of  the  things  the 
bureau,  has  done,  I  will  ask  you  to  consider  a  few  of  the  things 
the  bureau  should  do  and  can  do  as  appropriations  are  made  for  the 
advancement  of  metal  mining  in  the  Western  States. 

Improvements  in  mining  and  transportation  have  brought  great 
changes  to  the  metal-mining  industry.  Low-grade  ores  that  were 
formerly  left  in  the  ground  as  worthless  are  now  being  mined,  and 
waste  dumps  and  piles  of  tailings  are  being  treated  at  a  profit. 
The  great  problems  that  confront  the  mining  industry  of  the  West 
today  are  the  development  of  cheaper  methods  of  mining  and  mill- 


BUREAU  OF  MINES  AND  METALLIFEROUS  MINING.     109 

ing  of  low-grade  ores  and  the  devising  of  metallurgical  processes 
that  will  extract  the  relatively  small  metal  content  at  a  profit.  To 
reduce  the  cost  of  handling  and  treating  ores  the  application  of  the 
best  existing  methods  and  the  development  of  new  methods  are 
required.  Only  the  larger  companies  can  afford  to  carry  on  neces- 
sary investigations  for  themselves.  Experiment  is  beyond  the  reach 
of  a  small  company  with  limited  capital.  Furthermore,  there  is  need 
for  a  national  agency  for  gathering  and  distributing  information  of 
value  to  everyone  engaged  in  the  industry,  and  for  making  such 
recommendations  as  will  best  assure  adoption  of  safer  and  more 
efficient  methods.  It  is  in  work  of  this  kind,  work  that  deals  with 
general  and  fundamental  problems  whose  solution  is  necessary  to 
the  upbuilding  of  an.  industry,  that  Government  activity  can  prove 
itself  of  most  value. 

The  United  States  Geological  Survey  has  done  much  to  increase 
our  knowledge  of  the  character,  geologic  relations  and  areal  extent 
of  the  mineral  resources  of  the  West,  and  several  States  have  ably 
assisted  its  work.  The  work  of  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines  begins 
where  the  work  of  the  Survey  ends.  Investigations  to  determine 
howr  mining  methods  can  be  made  safer  and  more  efficient,  how 
milling  and  metallurgical  methods  can  be  improved  so  as  to  assure 
a  larger  extraction  of  metal,  reduce  waste  and  avoid  damage  to  other 
interests,  and  how  ores  or  mineral  substances  now  unused  can  be 
made  a  source  of  wealth — these  are  all  within  the  scope  of  its  duties 
as  defined  by  Congress.  Much  of  the  work  that  the  bureau  is  doing 
in  the  West  is  in  only  the  initial  stage.  At  present  activities  are 
largely  centered  at  three  points. 

Investigation  at  San  Francisco. 

At  San  FYancisco  the  smelter-fume  investigation  is  in  progress.  . 
Here  the  chemical  changes  involved  in  the  roasting  and  smelting  of 
sulphide  ores,  the  formation  of  compounds  that  make  smelter  smoke 
injurious  to  vegetation,  and  the  methods  by  which  the  damage  can 
be  lessened  or  prevented  have  been  and  are  being  carefully  studied 
in  the  laboratory  and  investigated  at  smelting  plants  in  co-operation 
with  other  agencies  attacking  the  same  problems. 

The  work  of  the  Selby  Smelter  Commission,  of  which  Dr. 
Holmes  was  chairman,  deserves  notice.  This  commission,  composed 
of  disinterested  experts,  investigated  the  question  of  damage  from 
the  Selby  smelter,  a  question  that  had  given  rise  to  protracted  and 
costly  litigation,  and  embodied  its  findings  in  an  exhaustive  report 
that  is  being  published  by  the  Bureau  of  Mines.  The  methods  used 


110          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

by  the  commission  have  been  adopted  in  other  investigations  of 
smoke  damage. 

The  importance  of  the  smelter  investigations  lies  not  only  in 
the  possibility  of  their  showing  how  substances  now  wasted  in 
smelter  smoke  and  fume  can  be  recovered  and  utilized  with  profit, 
but  also  in  the  probability  of  their  demonstrating  how  smelters  that 
have  been  closed  by  litigation  over  smoke  damage  may  be  operated 
without  doing  injury,  and  thus  become  buyers  of  ore  from  local 
mines  that  are  now  unworked  because  of  the  lack  of  markets. 

Recently  at  San  Francisco  the  bureau  has  begun  a  preliminary 
investigation  of  the  hydrometallurgy  of  gold  and  silver  ores,  in  the 
effort  to  develop  uniform  tests  and  to  make  improvements  in  various 
details  of  the  cyanide  process,  with  a  view  to  increasing  its  efficiency. 
At  present  the  work  is  confined  to  the  cyanidation  of  silver  ores 
from  Nevada,  and  is  receiving  active  co-operation  from  the  Nevada 
Mine  Owners'  Association. 

Another  investigation  being  conducted  through  the  San  Fran- 
cisco office  relates  to  placer  mining,  including  the  operation  of  gold 
dredges  and  the  working  of  hydraulic  mines.  This  investigation 
consists  largely  of  field  studies,  though  it  is  hoped  that  various 
special  problems  will  later  be  studied  by  laboratory  methods. 

Investigations  at  Denver. 

To  the  importance  of  the  radium  investigations  being  carried 
on  at  Denver  I  have  already  called  your  notice.  Other  work  being- 
done  at  Denver  includes  studies  of  the  minor  metals,  such  as 
tungsten  (used  in  the  filaments  of  electric  lights  and  in  special 
steels)  and  molybdenum  (needed  in  the  manufacture  of  alloy  steels) 
and  others,  many  deposits  of  which  are  scattered  through  the  mining 
districts  of  the  West  but  are  unworked  because  of  the  difficulty  of 
mining  and  concentrating  the  ores  profitably  with  existing  methods. 
Already  these  investigations  have  shown  that  by  improved  concen- 
trating methods  devised  by  the  bureau's  engineers  deposits  of 
molybdenum  ore  now  lying  idle  can  be  worked  profitably. 

Investigations  at  Salt  Lake  City. 

At  its  Salt  Lake  City  station  the  bureau  is  conducting,  in  co- 
operation with  the  University  of  Utah,  investigations  to  ascertain 
the  extent  of  the  low-grade  and  complex  ores  carrying  gold  and 
silver  with  copper  and  lead  or  zinc  that  are  now  unworked  but 
will  become  of  value  with  the  development  of  a  practicable  process 
for  recovering  the  metals.  In  these  investigations  the  extent  of 
the  low-grade  and  complex  ores  in  the  State  of  Utah  has  been 


BUREAU  OF  MINES  AND  METALLIFEROUS  MINING.     Ill 

determined,  and  it  is  planned  to  make  similar  examinations  in  Idaho 
and  other  adjoining  States.  Meanwhile,  various  methods  of  con- 
centrating and  treating  these  ores  are  being  tested  in  the  laboratory 
and  are  being  studied  at  mills,  in  the  attempt  to  devise  more  efficient 
arid  economical  methods  than  those  now  in  use.  Vast  quantities  of 
these  low-grade  ores  await  treatment  in  the  older  mining  districts 
of  Utah  and  adjacent  States,  and  the  development  of  efficient 
methods  of  treatment  will  increase  the  value  of  the  mineral  output 
of  these  States  by  millions  of  dollars. 

In  addition  to  the  work  for  the  advancement  of  metal  mining 
that  the  bureau  is  doing  through  these  stations,  such  of  its  mine- 
rescue  cars  as  could  be  spared  from  urgently  needed  work  in  the 
coal  fields  of  the  country  have  made  a  beginning  in  training  metal 
miners  in  first-aid  and  rescue  methods.  The  mining  engineers  in 
charge  of  these  cars  have  been  investigating  those  phases  of  light- 
ing, ventilation  and  the  use  of  explosives  that  are  peculiar  to  metal 
mines,  and  have  prepared  reports  embodying  recommendations  for 
the  prevention  of  accidents  and  the  use  of  safer  devices  and  methods. 

It  is  hoped  that  at  the  next  session  of  Congress  provision  will 
be  made  for  the  purchase  and  equipment  of  three  new  mine-rescue 
cars  authorized,  thereby  enabling  a  much  needed  extension  of 
rescue-  and  first-aid  training  in  the  metal-mining  States. 

Some  Things  That  the  Bureau  May  Help  to  Bring  About. 

The  metal-mining  investigations  and  inquiries  that  might  be 
profitably  followed  by  the  Bureau  of  Mines  are  so  many  and  various 
that  I  will  not  attempt  to  mention  them  all.  As  a  suggestion  of 
what  the  bureau  may  be  able  to  aid  in  accomplishing,  I  offe*r 
the  following  summary  of  some  mining  and  metallurgical  problems, 
and  a  brief  statement  showing  how  large  are  the  imports  of  some 
metals  and  minerals  that  are  found  in  this  country  but  are  not  pro- 
duced here,  or  are  produced  only  in  small  quantities : 

In  the  mining  and  metallurgy  of  the  precious  metals  there  re- 
mains the  possibility  of  recovering  a  larger  amount  of  platinum  and 
other  metals  of  the  platinum  group  from  gold  placers,  and  also  the 
possibility  of  devising  processes  for  extracting  gold  and  silver  profit- 
ably from  low-grade  complex  ores.  Many  gold  and  silver  ores 
contain  a  considerable  percentage  of  zinc,  but  until  recently  little 
or  no  attempt  was  made  to  recover  this  metal.  Losses  in  the  min- 
ing, milling  and  metallurgy  of  zinc  ore  are  startling.  At  many  dis- 
tricts in  the  West,  owing  to  high  freight  rates  and  high  smelter 
charges,  much  low-grade  zincky  ore  is  left  in  the  mine  or  on  the 


112          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  .MINING  CONGRESS 

waste  dump.  In  concentrating  zinc  ores  the  total  metal  losses  may 
amount  to  30  to  35  per  cent.  In  the  treatment  of  complex  zinc- 
bearing  ores  by  present  methods  some  of  the  contained  silver,  lead 
or  copper  is  often  wasted.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  ore  is  treated 
for  its  copper  content,  for  instance,  not  only  is  the  zinc  wasted,  but 
a  penalty  is  charged,,  depending  on  the  amount  of  zinc  present,  that 
is  often  as  high  as  $5  or  $6  a  ton.  ;  The  total  loss  in  the  metallurgy 
of  zinc  ores,  from  the  ore  in  the  ground  to  the  manufacture  of 
spelter,  is  rarely  less  than  50  per  cent. 

As  regards  copper  ores,  large  deposits  still  remain  unworked, 
and  the  percentage  of  metal  recovered  in  many  mines  is  lower  than 
it  should  be.  The  total  waste  from  ore  to  refined  copper  in  many 
instances  is  30  to  40  per  cent  of  the  metal  in  the  ore. 

In  1913  about  87  per  cent  of  the  copper  produced  in  this  coun- 
try came  from  the  Western  States.  As  this  represented  a  recovery 
of  about  70  per  cent  of  the  copper  in  the  ore,  the  annual  loss  of 
copper  that  year  in  those  States  alone  was  fully  $70,000,000,  or 
$200,000  a  day. 

At  present  the  treatment  of  many  copper  ores  is  on  the  verge 
of  a  revolution,  as  shown  by  enormous  plants  just  erected  in  Mon- 
tana and  Chile,  through  the  use  of  \vet  methods — leaching  and  pre- 
cipitation— in  place  of  ordinary  smelting  processes. 

As  regards  the  total  production  of  other  metals,  in  1913  the 
production  of  tin,  antimony,  platinum,  chromic  iron  ore  and  man- 
ganese ore  in  the  United  States  amounted  to  only  $130,000,  whereas 
the  value  of  these  same  minerals  imported  into  the  United  States  in 
that  year  was  nearly  $56,000,000.  The  most  important  item  in  this 
list  was  tin,  the  output  of  which  in  the  United  States  was  valued  at 
less  than  $37,000,  whereas  the  imports  were  valued  at  nearly  $47,- 
000,000.  There  are  undeveloped  tin  deposits  in  California,  Idaho, 
Washington,  Wyoming  and  Alaska,  and  some  partly  developed  de- 
posits in  Texas  and  South  Dakota.  At  present  Alaska  produces 
practically  all  the  tin  that  is  mined  in  the  United  States. 

The  United  States  produces  no  antimony,  but  imports  about 
$1,000,000  worth.  Deposits  of  antimony  ore  are  known  in  eight  or 
ten  of  the  Wrestern  States. 

Less  than  $50,000  worth  of  platinum  is  produced  in  the  United 
States  each  year,  whereas  imports  are  TOO  times  as  large.  '  Platinum 
is  found  in  nearly  every  Western  State,  and  is  recoverable  from 
many  gold  placers  and  beds  of  black  sand. 

The  production  of  manganese  ore  in  the  United  'States  is  val'ued 
at  about  $40,000,  whereas  the  imports  are  50  times  as  large.  De- 


BUREAU  OF  MINES  AND  METALLIFEROUS  MINING.     113 

posits  of  manganiferous  ores  are  found  in  at  least  eight  of  the 
Western  States. 

Large  deposits  of  high-grade  iron  ores  are  found  in  the  Pacific 
Coast  States  where  as  yet  there  is  practically  no  production  of  pig 
iron,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  good  coking  coal,  and  iron  and  steel 
are  imported  or  procured  through  the  payment  of  high  freight 
charges  from  furnaces  further  east. 

It  is  my  belief  that  through  investigations  now  under  way, 
and  through  investigations  to  be  carried  on  at  the  new  mining  ex- 
periment stations  authorized  by  Congress,  efficiency  in  mining  will 
be  stimulated,  new  processes  of  treating  ores  will  be  developed,  new 
uses  for  substances  now  wasted  will  be  found,  and  the  metal  pro- 
duction of  the  Western  States  will  be  increased  in  value  by  millions 
of  dollars  annually.  Also,  conditions  affecting  the  safety  and  health 
of  miners  and  of  workers  in  mills  and  smelting  plants  will  be  so 
greatly  improved  that  the  present  high  death  rate  from  accidents 
will  be  reduced  until  American  methods  in  mining  and  metallurgy 
will  be  regarded  as  no  less  notable  for  safety  and  efficiency  than 
they  are  now  for  boldness1  in  new  designs,  large  outputs  and  low 
costs. 

But  the  bureau  cannot  accomplish  these  ends  by  itself.  It  must 
have  the  co-operation  of  State  officials,  of  mining  and  metallurgical 
companies,  arid  of  the  workers  in  mines,  mills  and  smelters.  Acting 
as  an  investigator,  a  guide,  having  no  power  to  enforce  its  recom- 
mendations, it  seeks  your  aid  and  will  welcome  suggestions  or  advice 
in  regard  to  the  problems  it  should  investigate  and  the  methods  it 
should  follow.  The  bureau  has  no  desire  to  be  dictatorial  or  arbi- 
trary in  its  attitude — it  endeavors  to  accomplish  its  purpose  with  the 
least  disturbance  of  existing  conditions.  As  director  of  the  bureau 
I  shall  steadfastly  endeavor  to  carry  forward  its  work  for  the  better- 
ment of  the  mineral  industries  and  I  shall  constantly  strive  to  make 
the  bureau  the  great  agency  for  the  increase  of  safety  and  efficiency. 

But  the  bureau  is  only  on$  among  those  in  the  Interior  Depart- 
ment that  are  working  for  the  public  good,  and,  in  conclusion,  it 
gives  me  great  pleasure  to  assure  you  that  in  my  efforts  as  director 
I  shall  have  the  continued  sympathy  and  encouragement  of  that 
keen-sighted  and  broad-minded  citizen  of  California  who,  as  Sec- 
retary of  the  Interior,  is  doing  so  much  to  call  attention  to  the  nat- 
ural resources  of  the  West  and  the  nation's  interest  in  their  efficient 
utilization. 


Plain  Writing. 

BY  DR.    GEO.   OTIS  SMITH. 
WASHINGTON,  D.    C. 


Two  years  ago  I  spoke  to  the  American  Mining  Congress  on  the 
subject  "Plain  Talk" — both  preaching  the  use  of  direct  statement 
and  trying  to  practice  what  I  preached.  Of  late  my  thoughts  have 
turned  more  and  more  to  the  need  of  the  use  of  popular  language 
in  stating  technical  results;  hence  this  afternoon  I  venture  to  dis- 
cuss plain  writing  from  the  standpoint  of  a  Government  scientist. 
For  twenty-odd  years  my  association  with  scientists  has  been  fairly 
intimate  and,  though  I  may  not  qualify  in  plain  writing  myself,  I 
can  claim  large  acquaintance  with  both  the  written  and  the  printed 
page  whose  meaning  is  far  from  plain. 

Science  Is  Simple. 

At  its  best,  science  is  simple ;  for  science  is  not  much  more  than 
arranging  facts  so  as  to  set"  forth  the  truth.  Scientific  thought  is 
exact  and  direct,  and  scientific  writing  must  therefore  be  accurate 
and  to  the  point.  The  scientist  should  think  directly  and  with  the 
precision  of  one  of  the  instruments  of  his  trade,  and  above  all  his 
language  must  present  that  thought  exactly. 

In  scientific  writing  this  need  of  exact  statement  has  led  to  the 
use  of  special  terms,  words  that  keep  their  razor-edge  because  used 
only  for  hair-splitting  distinctions.  In  a  certain  degree  this  adop- 
tion of  words  not  commonly  used  is  unavoidable  and  therefore  de- 
fensible. Yet  the  practice  is  carried  to  an  extreme,  and  far  too  often 
the  result  is  a  highly  specialized  language  so  distantly  related  to 
our  mother  tongue  that  as  a  preliminary  qualification  the  writer  has 
to  pass  a  civil  service  examination,  and  the  reader  usually  finds  him- 
self "shut  out"  and  facing  a  "no  admittance"  sign  unless  he  happens 
to  possess  the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy  in  that  particular 
branch  of  science. 

Not  to  Be  Discarded. 

Mind  you,  it  would  be  folly  to  throw  away  these  tools  so  well 
fitted  for  special  purposes ;  yet  it  is  no  more  the  part  of  wisdom  to 
put  them  to  everyday  uses.  The  task  for  the  scientist  is  to  decide 
when  to  use  his  technical  terms  and  when  to  talk  United  States. 


PLAIN  WRITING  PAGES.  115 

Of  course,  any  writer's  first  duty  is  to  be  intelligible.  Choice  of 
language  thus  resolves  itself  largely  into  an  understanding  of  the 
audience.  If  a  scientific  investigator  desires  to  announce  his  dis- 
covery to  his  fellow  workers,  he  does  well  to  use  those  exact  terms 
that  carry  the  same  shade  of  meaning  the  world  over,  and  indeed 
may  have  the  same  form  in  several  Janguages;  if,  on  the  other 
hand,  his  results  have  immediate  value  for  the  mine  operator  or 
the  prospector,  the  geologist  does  not  and  cannot  accomplish  his 
purpose  unless  he  writes  in  plain  language,  using  words  possibly  less 
exact  but  surely  more  understandable. 

It  may  be  that  I  have  stated  the  case  too  simply,  SO'  that  this 
matter  of  plain  writing  may  seem  altogether  easy,  yet  making  out 
the  prescription  is  always  much  easier  than  effecting  the  cure.  In- 
deed, I  suspect  the  difficulty  is  largely  an  internal  trouble  with  the 
author,  so  deep-seated  that  my  simple  remedy  of  fitting  the  language 
to  the  reader  does  not  reach  it. 

Sir  Clifford  Allbutt  in  his  "Notes  on  the  Composition  of  Sci- 
entific Papers,"  lays  down  the  plain  rule:  "Take  pains,  therefore, 
with  yourself  first,  then  with  your  reader."  His  idea  that  clear 
thinking  must  be  the  first  step  to  plain  writing,  of  course  deserves 
our  endorsement,  based  upon  experience.  How  common  is  the  sad 
discovery  that  a  piece  of  obscure  writing  is  simply  the  product  of 
roundabout  reasoning  or  twisted  thinking.  Printer's  ink,  in  what- 
ever amount  used,  unfortunately  possesses  no  magic  properties  as 
a  reagent  for  clarifying  muddy  thoughts.  Yet  no  doubt  it  some- 
times happens  that  some  of  us  try  to  cover  up  with  long  words  our 
uncertainty  in  thinking.  So  in  preaching  reform  in  scientific  publi- 
cations those  of  us  who  are  doing  the  work  must  realize  that  plain 
thinking  comes  first.  There's  the  rub ! 

Big  Men  Plain  Writers. 

It  is  therefore  not  a  coincidence  that  some  of  the  deepest 
thinkers  in  geological  science  have  also  possessed  a  literary  style 
conspicuous  for  clarity  of  expression.  On  the  other  hand,  some 
authors  whose  English  needs  the  most  editing  are  equally  careless 
in  their  quotation  of  facts  determined  by  others,  and  indeed  in  the 
statement  of  their  own  observations.  I  mention  this  simply  to  show 
that  I  am  strong  in  my  belief  that  plain  writing  is  not  something 
beneath  the  plane  of  endeavor  of  the  scientific  investigator — indeed, 
it  is  something  so  hard  to  attain  that  the  most  of  us  need  to  aim 
high,  to  raise  our  standards  of  scientific  thinking.  The  use  of  com- 


116          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

mon  words  is  worthy  of  any  writer  if  his  purpose  is  to  transmit 
thought. 

The  discussion  of  plain  writing  at  this  time  is  not  academic, 
because  my  real  purpose  is  to  take  this  opportunity  to  announce  to 
you  the  policy  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  on  this  sub- 
ject. Our  explorations,  surveys  and  investigations  are  in  the  public 
interest  only  as  results  are  made  public.  This  policy  is  as  old  as  the 
Geological  Survey  itself,  but  several  things  have  given  a  special 
impetus  to  the  development  of  this  policy.  Beginning  in  August,  a 
year  ago,,  a  large  volume  of  inquiries  from  producer  and  consumer 
of  minerals  came  pouring  into  our  office,  and  as  never  before  the 
Geological  Survey  became  a  kind  of  "Central"  to  the  mineral  in- 
dustry. This  opportunity  for  a  larger  service  to  the  public  not  only 
resulted  in  gratifying  relations  with  a  large  number  of  correspond- 
ents, but  the  rendering  of  such  service  has  proved  instructive  to 
the  public  servants  charged  with  the  duty.  Many  of  us  on  the 
Survey  staff  have  acquired  a  keener  realization  of  the  need  not  only 
of  giving  the  public  facts,  but  also  of  making  those  facts  intelligible 
and  useful  to  the  citizen  who  may  lack  professional  training  in 
geology  or  engineering. 

The  Guide  Books. 

Another  line  of  this  larger  service  has  been  the  issue  of  four 
guide  books  to  this  great  Western  country,  in  which  the  purpose  has 
been  to  inform  the  traveler  concerning  the  resources  of  this  part 
of  our  country  as  well  as  to  unfold  to  him  in  attractive  form  its 
fascinating  geology.  The  effort  to  meet  the  public  need  of  author- 
itative information  of  this  type  seemingly  has  met  with  success,  and 
other  guide  books  in  this  series  will  follow  in  other  years.  More 
than  that,  however,  the  reflex  influence  of  this  innovation  is  already 
felt,  and  the  evident  appreciation  by  the  general  public  of  this  type 
of  popular  description  is  encouraging  the  Survey  writers.  The  edu- 
cational responsibility  of  this  Federal  service  is  being  more  fully 
realized,  and  we  intend  to  give  much  more  attention  to  the  sim- 
plification of  the  language  of  the  professional  publications  and  to 
the  issue  af  reports  that  shall  be  popularly  descriptive  and  instruc- 
tive without  loss  of  exactness.  Even  if  plain  language  is  used,  our 
reports  should  be  no  less  efficient  vehicles  for  professional  discus- 
sion or  for  announcement  of  geologic  discoveries. 

For  General  Public. 

For  thirty-six  years  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  has 
reached  an  ever-widening  circle  of  readers,  and  even  in  those  first 


PLAIN  WRITING  PAGES.  117 

years  of  the  Survey's  life  Kind  and  Emmons  and  Gilbert  gave  to 
the  West  the  results  of  their  work  in  strong  and  forceful  English. 
Yet  with  the  growth  of  the  organization  and  the  development  of  the 
science  the  tendency  toward  highly  specialized  writing  has  been  too 
marked,  and  the  present  plea  for  plain  writing  has  become  neces- 
sary. The  Government  scientist  has  at  least  two  obligations ;  first, 
that  of  making  his  investigations  more  and  more  exact  in  method 
and  direct  in  result ;  second,  that  of  making  his  product,  the  written 
report,  such  as  to  meet  the  needs  of  not  only  his  professional  asso- 
ciates but  also  the  general  public.  It  is  our  ambition  that  the  reports 
of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  shall  be  written  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  people. 


Prejudice  Against  Regulation. 

BY  RUSH   C.   BUTLER, 

FEDERAL    TRADE    ADVISORY     COMMITTEE    OF    THE    CHAMBER    OF    COM- 
MERCE OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


It  is  the  fashion  to  decry  governmental  regulation.  It  is  re- 
peated ad  nauseam  that  honest  industry  has  found  little  or  nothing 
helpful  in  legislative  enactments  and  is  in  a  state  of  collapse  under 
the  strain  of  regulatory  statutes.  The  Act  to  regulate  commerce, 
the  Elkins  law,  the  pure  food  and  drug  act,  the  Clayton  and  Federal 
Trade  Commission  laws  are  cited  as  specific  instances  of  legislative 
oppression  of  business.  It  is  asserted  that  these  laws  were  enacted 
upon  the  assumption  that  business  is  dishonest  and  that  they  were 
therefore  intended  to  be  and  have  resulted  in  being  destructive  and 
not  constructive  in  their  effect  upon  business.  However  little  truth 
there  may  be  in  these  charges,  and  however  weak  may  be  the  logic 
of  the  argument  which  supports  them,  they  have  been  so  frequently 
and  so  vehemently  stated  that  they  find  unwitting  indorsement  in 
the  minds  of  many  people.  The  Sherman  law,  too,  is  condemned 
as  a  regulatory  statute.  Why  should  the  sins  of  the  Sherman  law 
be  invoked  in  condemning  regulation?  The  Sherman  law  does  not 
provide  for  regulation.  It  is  declaratory — not  regulatory.  Had  it 
contained  regulatory  provisions  we  should  have  long  since  wit- 
nessed the  solution  of  many  problems  of  regulation  that  are  still 
unsolved.  The  real  relation  of  the  Sherman  law  to  regulation  and 
the  possibility  of  their  co-ordination  without  further  legislative  en- 
actment will,  I  hope,  be  made  clear  as  we  proceed. 

Regulation  Is  Constructive. 

But  is  it  true  that  the  strictly  regulatory  statutes  have  been 
destrucive  either  in  intent  or  results?  The  earliest  law  of  which 
complaint  is  made  is  the  act  to  regulate  commerce,  passed  in  1887. 
Amendments  to  the  act  have  eliminated  entirely  the  strongly  en- 
trenched system  of  direct  rebating.  If 'this  one  item  all  by  itself 
does  not  make  the  act  a  piece  of  constructive  regulation  I  shall  have 
to  be  convinced  of  it  by  the  word  of  some  one  other  than  the  man 
who  no  longer  receives  the  rebates,  or  of  some  one  other  than  a 
selfish  agitator.  If  you  require  proof  that -it  is  constructive  legis- 


PREJUDICE  AGAINST  REGULATION.  119 

lation,  ask  the  traffic  manager  of  the  railroad  who  by  force  of  the 
inevitable  pressure  of  the  old  regime  dishonored  himself,  his  office 
and  his  country  by  paying  the  rebates,  but  who  now,  thanks  to  the 
law  of  his  land,  is  free  to  hold  an  honest  position  as  an  honest  man. 
Not  only  has  the  elimination  of  rebating  restored  to  the  man  who 
actually  gave  and  received  the  rebates  the  opportunity  of  being 
honest,  but  it  has  put  all  the  business  of  the  country  upon  a  higher 
moral  plane.  This  is  common  comment,  particularly  among  railroad 
men  themselves. 

Amendments  to  the  act  to  regulate  commerce  have  reduced  to 
a  minimum  unjust  discriminations  and  undue  preferences  and  ad- 
vantages. The  weak  are  given  their  place  with  the  strong.  The 
many  are  not  sacrificed  for  the  few.  Morally,  as  well  as  legally, 
the  act  has  been  intensively  and  broadly  constructive.  If  there  be, 
as  it  seems  to  many  there  is,  occasion  to  complain  that  the  act  is 
destructive  in  that  by  reason  of  regulation  thereunder  some  car- 
riers are  not  receiving  the  full  measure  of  just  and  reasonable 
rates  to  which  they  feel  themselves  entitled,  such  condition  only 
reflects  the  present  status  of  the  evolutionary  process  which  must 
be  experienced  during  the  period  of  readjustment  of  the  physical 
and  financial  affairs  of  such  of  the  carriers  as  have  been  looted, 
robbed  and  plundered  because,  if  you  please,  of  the  very  lack  of 
regulatory  legislation  making  such  practices  possible.  The  rail- 
roads whose  management  has  been  capable  and  honest  are  benefiting 
rather  than  suffering  by  reason  of  regulation.  In  spite  of  the  harsh- 
ness of  some  of  the  requirements  of  regulation,  you  will  have  diffi- 
culty in  finding  a  single  railroad  manager  who  advocates  the  abol- 
ishment of  the  federal  regulatory  statutes  and  a  return  to  the  prac- 
tices of  the  olden  days. 

Pure  Food  and  Banks. 

What  of  the  pure  food  and  drug  act  of  1906?  It  has  made  the 
pretenders,  the  falsifiers,  the  dishonest  venders  of  dishonest  goods 
either  quit  business  entirely  or  tell  the  public  the  truth  about  the 
articles  they  offer  for  sale. 

What  of  our  national  banks?  They  always  have  been  subject 
to  federal  regulation  to  the  minutest  detail.  Isn't  it,  after  all,  more 
or  less  a  question  of  viewpoint?  Does  not  our  like  or  dislike  for 
a  thing  greatly  depend  upon  whether  or  not  we  are  accustomed  to 
it?  Can  you  imagine  any  line  of  business  that  is  conducted  more 
honestly  or  legitimately  or  that  results  in  giving  better  service  to 
its  customers  or  in  paying  better  dividends  to  its  owners  than  the 


120          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

business  of  the  banks  regulated  by  the  federal  governnfent?  I  can 
imagine  no  more  glorious  outcome  for  the  regulation  of  industrial 
corporations  than  that  at  the  end  of  ten  or  twenty  or  even  fifty 
years  they  shall  be  as  well  conducted,  giving  as  good  service  to  their 
patrons  and  affording  their  owners  as  safe  and  sure  returns  as  do 
our  national  banks  at  the  present  time. 

Consideration  of  other  regulatory  statutes  would  further  show 
that  their  intent  was  helpfulness — destructive,  if  you  please,  of  evil 
practices  or  evil  results,  but  broadly,  humanely  constructive.  The 
Safety  Appliance  Act  no  doubt  placed  much  death-dealing  railroad 
equipment  on  the  junk  pile.  If  this  is  destructive,  let  the  detractors 
of  regulation  make  the  most  of  it.  But  the  same  act  has  placed  in 
the  service  of  the  carriers  millions  of  engines  and  cars  equipped 
with  modern  devices  safeguarding  the  health,  limbs  and  lives  of 
railway  employes,  passengers  and  the  public. 

Regulation  is  constructive.  Its  fate  is  not  to  be  determined 
by  the  voice  or  votes  of  those  from  whom  it  has  taken  or  to  whom 
it  has  denied  undue  privilege.  Regulatory  statutes  no  more  as- 
sume business  essentially  dishonest  than  statutes  making  stealing  a 
crime  assume  all  men  to  be  thieves.  Because  the  Rock  Island  was 
purchased  with  criminal  intent  and  some  years  later  thrust  into  a 
scandalous  receivership  is  no  reason  why  the  Burlington,  the  North- 
western or  the  Santa  Fe  should  be  considered  outlaws.  Argument 
based  upon  such  assumption  is  the  first  resort  of  the  business  man 
with  dishonest  motives. 

Commissions  of  Experts. 

If  those  6f  you  here  assembled  were  certain  that  in  the  prog- 
ress of  governmental  regulation  it  would  sooner  or  later  be  brought 
about  that  the  mining  industry  would  be  regulated  by  a  board  of 
responsible  business  men,  the  majority  of  whose  members  were 
fairly  representative  of  the  mining  industry,  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  you  would  pledge  your  support  to  any  just  and  proper  means 
to  the  accomplishment  of  that  end.  I  have  faith  that  such  an  out- 
come is  reasonably  to  be  anticipated.  Such  is  clearly,  the  tendency 
of  the  times.  I  believe  that  ultimately  regulation  of  all  kinds  will 
be  placed  in  the  hands  of  those  familiar  with  and  friendly  to  the 
industry  regulated.  The  personnel  of  the  present  Federal  Trade 
Commission  gives  such  a  promise.  I  believe  that  the  idea  of  regu- 
lation now  entertained  by  the  comparatively  few,  namely,  that  it 
must  be  expert,  efficient,  helpful  and  conducted  along  sane,  business 
lines,  will  become  the  idea  and  the  ideal  of  all  our  people.  Such  a 


PREJUDICE  AGAINST  REGULATION.  121 

type  of  regulation  does  not  mean  paternalism.  It  means  that  each 
line  of  industry  and  each  person  engaged  in  it  will  have  the  widest 
latitude  for  individual  action.  Such  form  of  regulation  does  not 
mean  inquisition.  It  does  not  mean  annoyance  by  official  investiga- 
tors. Espionage  is  not  a  part  of  the  system.  The  national  banks 
have  never  had  occasion  to  complain  of  the  fact  that  federal  ex- 
aminers had  freest  access  to  their  books.  Industrial  corporations 
under  the  kind  of  regulation  they  can  assist  in  bringing  about  will 
have  as  little  fear  of  examination  as  do  the  national  banks. 

Attitude  of  Industry  Toward  Commission 

That  all  regulation  is  justified  no  one  will  claim.  That  it  can 
be  improved  none  will  deny.  But  it  is  here  to  stay.  Commissions 
are  to  become  more  largely  concerned  with  business.  The  extent  to 
which  they  may  become  helpful  depends  in  large  measure  upon  the 
spirit  manifested  toward  them  by  business.  It  was  not  long  after 
the  Federal  Trade  Commission  law  and  the  Clayton  law  became 
effective  that  Mr.  Wheeler,  former  president  of  the  Chamber  of 
Comifierce  of  the  United  States,  urged,  in  his  forceful  and  con- 
vincing manner,  that  the  business  men  of  the  United  States  lend 
their  hearty  support  to  the  efforts  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commis- 
sion to  make  the  new  laws  helpful  to  business.  Mr.  Wheeler  said: 
"To  make  my  point  clear,  I  want  to  suppose  that  immediately 
after  the  appointment  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  in 
1887,  the  railroads,  instead  of  contending  against  the  proposed 
regulation,  had  recognized  the  right  of  the  government  to  inter- 
vene and  had,  through  a  well-intentioned  and  broad-minded  com- 
mittee, given  co-operation  to  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
from  the  beginning  of  its  deliberations.  Such  co-operation  would, 
I  contend,  have  smoothed  out  many  of  the  rough  places,  have  saved 
the  Commission  from  many  errors,  the  railroads  from  infinite  loss 
and  the  nation  from  a  sorry  exhibition  of  dishonest  flotation  and 
inefficient  operation." 

And  applying  this  illustration  to  the  relationship  then  about 
to  be  established  between  industrial  business  arid  the  Federal  Trade 
Commission,  Mr.  Wheeler  stated  it  seemed  to  him  particularly 
necessary  that  business  should  organize  to  co-operate  with  the 
Commission  rather  than  assume  the  attitude  of  being  critically  in- 
different or  positively  obstructive.  It  was  due  largely  to  Mr. 
Wheeler's  initiative  and  efforts  that  the  Federal  Trade  Committee 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States  was  formed. 
It  is  hoped  that  the  committee  may  be  able  to  co-operate  with  busi- 


122          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

ness  men  of  the  country  in  whatever  industry  engaged  and  with 
the  Federal  Trade  Commission,  to  the  end  that  an  early  and  sym- 
pathetic understanding  may  he  had  between  the  regulating  body 
and  the  regulated  industries. 

Co-operation  of  Business  Men  Necessary  to  Successful  Regulation. 
Business  may  best  co-operate  with  the  government  by  accept- 
ing the  legislation  now  on  the  statute  bqoks  as  reflecting  the  best 
opinion  of  the  time  and  by  adjusting  itself  to  the  new  order  of 
things.  The  laws  are  not  perfect  and  perhaps  never  will  be,  but 
business  men  may  now  have  a  larger  voice  than  ever  before  in 
bringing  about  amendments  to  the  laws  along  lines  shown  by  their 
experience  to  be  necessary.  Business  men  are  today  co-operating 
with  each  other  more  intimately  than  ever  before.  There  are  literally 
thousands  of  organizations  of  business  men  throughout  the  coun- 
try. Their  purposes  are  lawful  and  laudable,  and  their  tendency  is 
all  toward  bettering  not  only  industrial  but  all  human  conditions. 
Their  contact  with  regulating  bodies  brings  to  legislative  and  execu- 
tive officials  appreciation  of  the  fallacies  and  weaknesses  of  existing 
laws  and  points  out  the  proper  basis  for  amendatory  enactments. 
If  a  commission  sympathetically  reflects  to  the  legislative  body  the 
necessity  for  amendatory  legislation,  how  much  more  easily  will 
it  be  obtained.  Not  only  this,  but  a  commission  may  often  by  its 
own  conduct  so  exert  its  powers  in  a  proper  manner  as  really  to 
afford  relief  not  provided  by  direct  statutory  amendment.  The  im- 
portance of  harmonious  co-operation  between  regulator  and  regu- 
lated is  therefore  all  the  more  apparent. 

Commission's  Power  to  Help. 

Specifically  as  to  the  ability  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission 
to  help  business,  it  is  first  to  be  noted  with  gratification  that  the 
attitude  of  the  commission  is  entirely  favorable  and  friendly.  In 
this  it  represents  the  changed  ideas  of  the  present  day.  Some  doubt 
has  been  expressed  whether  the  powers  of  the  commission  are 
broad  enough  really  to  enable  it  to  be  helpful.  Personally  I  do  not 
share  in  that  doubt.  In  the  proper  exercise  of  the  powers  con- 
ferred upon  it,  the  commission  can  and  will  be  a  source  of  great 
assistance  and  relief  to  the  business  world. 

The  commission  is  authorized  to  exercise  functions  of  two 
different  kinds.  The  first  may  be  called  judicial,  in  the  exercise  of 
which  it  files  complaints,  holds  hearings  and  enters  orders.  In  the 
exercise  of  its  judicial  functions  the  commission  is  given  the 
opportunity  of  passing  upon  complaints  concerning  every  con- 


PREJUDICE  AGAINST  REGULATION.  123 

ceivable  form  of  alleged  unlawful  business  practices.  Each  case 
considered  by  the  Commission  will  naturally  be  decided  by  it,  an 
order  will  be  entered  either  dismissing  the  complaint  or  granting 
relief,  and  a  full  and  complete  opinion  will  be  prepared  and.  pub- 
lished by  the  commission  setting  forth  its  reasons  for  its  con- 
clusions. It  will  not  be  long  therefore  until  the  ideas  of  the  com- 
mission with  reference  to  what  facts  do  and  what  facts  do  not 
constitute  violations  of  the  law  will  be  known  to  the- public.  The 
commission's  opinion  will  constitute  guides  for  business.  Its  find- 
ings of  'facts  are  declared  by  the  law  to  be  binding  upon  the  courts. 
As  with  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  that  order  of  the 
Federal  Trade  Commission  will  be  rare  indeed  which  the  courts 
will  modify  or  annul.  As  the  commission  is  composed  of  business 
men,  business  men  will  pass  upon  business  practices.  Owing,  to  the 
conclusiveness  of  its  findings  of  fact  the  commission  has  been  quite 
properly  referred  to  as  the  Supreme  Court  of  business.  Those  of 
you  who  are  tired  of  having  your  motives  impugned  and  your  acts 
held  for  naught  by  lawyers  and  judges  said  to  be  lacking  in  busi- 
ness experience  will  find  great  relief  in  the  new  order  of  things. 

Inquisitorial  Function. 

The  other  function  of  the  commission  may  '  be  called  in- 
quisitorial. The  use  of  the  word  in  this  connection  may  not  be 
altogether  happy,  for  neither  the  Clayton  law  nor  the  Federal 
Trade  Commission  law  is  intended  to  impose  upon  the  Trade  Com- 
mission the  duty  of  conducting  an  inquisition  or  ferreting  out  crime. 
Rather,  the  attitude  assumed  by  the  commission  in  making  investi- 
gations may  more  properly  be  regarded  as  similar  to  that  of  the 
Treasury  Department  in  making  examinations  of  national  banks. 
The  commission's  powers  of  investigation  apply  to  corporations 
only.  The  commission  has  no  power  to  investigate  the  business  of 
individuals  or  partnerships.  That  the  commission's  powers  of  in- 
vestigation are  intended  to  be  helpful  is  evidenced  by  numerous 
provisions  of  the  law.  Section  6,  paragraph  (e),  of  the  Trade 
Commission  law  provides  that  the  commission  may  investigate  and 
make  recommendations  for  the  readjustment  of  the  business  of 
any  corporation  alleged  to  be  violating  the  anti-trust  acts  in  order 
that  the  corporation  may  thereafter  maintain  its  organization,  man- 
agement and  conduct  of  business  in  accordance  with  law.  This  pro- 
vision is  for  the  specific  purpose  of  permitting  any  corporation  vio- 
lating the  law  to  readjust  its  business  without  a  decree  of  court, 
even  before  the  filing  of  a  suit.  It  enables  the  commission  and  the 


124          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

Department  of  Justice  to  co-operate  with  the  particular  industry 
involved,  thereby  avoiding  the  expense,  annoyance,  publicity  and 
other  evil  effects  attendant  upon  litigation.  It  enables  the  commis- 
sion to  establish  definite  guides  for  the  future  conduct  of  the  par- 
ticular business.  This  is  an  exceedingly  helpful  and  constructive 
provision,  which  standing  alone  justifies  the  enactment  of  the  law. 

Paragraph  (f)  provides  for  annual  and  special  reports  of  the 
commission  to  Congress  and  for  the  submission  of  recommendations 
for  additional  legislation  and  for  the  publication  of  the  commission's 
reports  and  opinions. 

Paragraph  (g)  authorizes  the  Commission  to  classify  corpora- 
tions. This  permits  the  commission  to  require  reports  from  only 
such. corporations  as  it  may  deem  advisable  and  thereby  relieve  a 
large  number  of  corporations  with  which  it  may  well  know  in 
advance  it  will  have  no  concern  from  the  expense  and  annoyance 
of  making  unnecessary  reports.  This  power  of  classification  is  unlim- 
ited, thereby  permitting  the  commission  to  make  as  many  divisions 
and  subdivisions  in  classifying,  even  within  a  single  industry,  as  it 
may  feel  proper  or  necessary  to  make  in  order  effectively  to  accom- 
plish desired  ends. 

Paragraph  (h)  provides  that  the  commission  shall  investigate 
trade  conditions  in  and  with  foreign  countries  and  report  to  Con- 
gress thereon  with  its  recommendations.  This  provision  is  for  the 
evident  purpose  of  promoting  our  foreign  trade. 

It  is  especially  to  be  noted  violations  o'f  the  Federal  Tracle 
Commission  law  and  the  Clayton  law  are  not  made  criminal  offenses, 
clearly  indicating  that  Congress  considered  criminal  provisions  un- 
desirable and  unnecessary. 

Pozvers  Not  Conferred  by  Law. 

In  addition  to  the  judicial  and  inquisitorial  functions  which 
may  be  exercised  by  the  commission  it  naturally  as  an  adminis- 
trative body  has  effected  a  business  organization  for  the  purpose 
of  enabling  it  to  perform  its  duties.  It  has  provided  rules  and 
regulations  for  the  conduct  of  its  own  business,  and  will  .soon  have 
established  a  workable  business  routine.  This  necessarily  gives  it 
certain  administrative  powers  not  specifically  provided  by  law,  and 
which  will  no  doubt  reflect  business  ideas  in  this  department  of 
the  government.  To  illustrate:  Very  soon  after  the  commission 
organized  it  caused  to  be  given  wide  publicity  a  statement  prepared 
by  V ice-Chairman  Hurley  concerning  uniform  cost  accounting  sys- 
tems. The  commission  is  convinced,  as  are  a  great  many  business 


PREJUDICE  AGAINST  REGULATION.  125 

men,  that  much  unfair  competition  is  due  to  ignorance  of  the  cost 
of  production  on  the  part  of  manufacturers  and  producers.  The 
commission  considered  that  it  could  be  constructively  helpful  to 
business  by  standing  sponsor  for  the  idea  of  uniform  cost  account- 
ing systems.  The  problem  involved  is  receiving  detailed  and  expert 
consideration  by  the  commission.  There  can'  be  no  doubt  that  it 
will  not  be  long  before  the  commission  will  be  in  position  to  give 
valuable  assistance  with  reference  to  cost  accounting  applicable  to 
all  the  various  and  diversified  lines  of  industry. 

The  question  is  often  asked,  "Is  there  any  lawful  basis  upon 
which  competitors  may  co-operate  in  the  actual  carrying  on  of  their 
business?"  Assuredly  yes.  While  the  legal  limitations  on  such  co- 
operation constitute  one  of  the  greatest  menaces  to  business,  there 
are  several  plans  of  co-operation  in  effect,  some  of  which  have 
received  the  tacit,  if  not  the  expressed,  approval  of  the  government. 
There  is  the  open  competition  plan,  the  closed  transaction  plan  and 
the  common  selling  agency  plan.  Still  other  plans  are  believed  to 
be  legal  when  applied  to  industries  substantially  all  of  whose  mem- 
bers, due  to  stress  of  conditions  either  temporary  or  permanent, 
are  selling  at  less  than  cost  of  production.  Any  industry  desiring 
the  assistance  of  the  commission  will  probably  have  to  devise  its 
own  plan,  whether  it  be  for  co-operation  of  competing  industries, 
or  whether  it  be  with  reference  to  the  inner  workings  of  an  in- 
dividual industry.  It  is  not  probable  that  the  commission  will  assist 
in  the  formation  of  a  plan, -but  if  the  workings  of  a  specific  plan 
are  presented  to  the  commission  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  they 
will  be  given  careful  and  expert  investigation  and  that  in  •  due 
course  the  commission  will  make  its  report  thereon,  either  approv- 
ing or  disapproving  part  or  all  thereof. 

The  Commission  and  the  Sherman  Laiv. 

While  Congress  has  declared  specifically  that  the  Federal 
Trade  Commission  law  should  not  be  construed  to  alter,  modify  or 
repeal  the  Sherman  law,  it  is  apparent  that  if  the  views  herein  ex- 
pressed properly  interpret  the  commission's  powers,  the  drastic 
provisions  of  the  Sherman  law,  while  standing  unaltered  and  un- 
amended  on  the  statute  books,  will  need  to  be  invoked  only  for  the 
punishment  of  flagrant  violations.  When  guides  for  business  have 
been  well  established  by  the  commission  the  man  who  violates  the 
Sherman  law  will  do  so  at  his  own  peril  and,  if  prosecuted  crim- 
inally therefor,  will  receive  little  sympathy  from  his  fellow  business 
men. 


126          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

The  Clayton  Law's  Inhibitions. 

In  the  Clayton  law  Congress  expressed  its  emphatic  disapproval 
of  four  specific  things,  namely : 

First — Price  discrimination  between  two  persons  buying  under 
exactly  similar  circumstances  and  conditions. 

Second — So-called  tying  contracts  requiring  the  purchaser  to 
agree  to  handle  no  goods  of  a  competitor  of  the  seller. 

Third — The  ownership  of  stock  by  one  corporation  in  another 
whereby  competition  is  lessened ;  and 

Fourth — Interlocking  directors .  under  certain  conditions. 

These  things  are  flatly  declared  unlawful  and  the  Federal 
Trade  Commission  is  authorized  and  directed  to  file  complaint 
against  violators  of  these  provisions  and  require  discontinuance 
of  the  practices.  The  things  thus  condemned  might  have  been  in- 
cluded within  the  unfair  methods  of  competition  which  were  de- 
clared unlawful  in  the  Trade  Commission  act,  but  evidently  Con- 
gress deemed  each  of  the  things  injurious  to  the  public  and  did  not 
wish  to  leave  it  open  to  the  commission  to  find  that  any  one  of  the 
four  acts  specifically  condemned  was  proper  or  lawful  or  to  be  in 
any  way  excused,  and  therefore  placed  its  stamp  of  special  dis- 
approval upon  each  and  all  of  them. 

Labor  Exemption  Clause. 

Much  might  be  said  with  reference  to  the  labor  exemption 
clause  of  the  Clayton  law.  Whether  the  effect  of  the  clause  will 
be  helpful  or  harmful  to  labor  remains  to  be  seen.  To  whatever 
extent  it  proves  to  be  unduly  helpful  to  labor,  it  will  to  that  same 
extent  necessarily  be  unduly  harmful  to  incjustry.  If  it  proves  un- 
duly helpful  to  labor  it  is  fair  to  assume  either  that  it  will  be  re- 
pealed or  that  it  will  be  used  as  an  entering  wedge  to  bring  about 
the  enactment  of  similar  provisions  definitely  and  specifically  en- 
abling industry  to  co-operate  along  similar  lines  of  mutual  help- 
fulness. 

Unfair  Methods  of  Competition  in  Commerce. 

The  Federal  Trade  Commission  law  lays  down  the  broad  rule 
that  unfair  methods  of  competition  in  commerce  are  unlawful  and 
gives  the  commission  the  power  to  ascertain  in  specific  instances 
whether  or  not  any  method  complained  of  is  unfair.  If  the  com- 
mission determines  that  a  method  is  unfair  it  is  permitted  to  file 
a  complaint  against  the  offending  party  only  in  the  event  it  further 
appears  that  the  filing  of  a  complaint  would  be  in  the  interest  of 
the  public.  This  is  an  exceedingly  liberal  provision  of  the  law. 


PREJUDICE  AGAINST  REGULATION.  127 

It  expressly  indicates  congressional  approval  of  the  idea  that  petty 
lights  among  competitors,  even  though  they  may  involve  the  em- 
ployment of  unfair  methods  of  competition,  are  not  of  sufficient 
importance  to  invoke  the  attention  of  the  government,  unless 
interests  other  than  those  of  the  immediate  parties  to  the  contro- 
versy are  involved. 

Sherman  Law  Is  for  the  Protection  of  Public  and  Not  Private 

Interests. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  by  judicial  inter- 
pretation, has  placed  substantially  the  same  limitation  upon  the 
application  of  the  Sherman  law,  namely,  that  it  cannot  be  invoked 
for  the  protection  of  the  interests  of  an  individual,  but  only  on 
behalf  of  the  public.  In  the  case  most  recently  decided  by  the 
Supreme  Court  involving  the  Sherman  law,  viz.,  United  States  vs. 
Delaware,  Lackawanna  &  Western  Railroad,  238  U.  S.,  516,  de- 
cided June  21,  1915,  the  Supreme  Court  says  that  the  anti-trust 
act  "is  not  concerned  with  the  interest  of  the  parties,  but  with  the 
interest  of  the  public."  The  Sherman  law  is  general  in  its  terms 
and  is  not  limited  by  express  language  to  such  restraints  of  trade 
or  monopolies  as  are  harmful  to  the  public,  but,  as  stated,  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  by  judicial  interpretation  has 
so  limited  it,  and  no  doubt  properly. 

Though  it  will  be  a  digression,  it  may  be  interesting,  particu- 
larly to  gentlemen  engaged  in  the  coal  mining  industry,  to  consider 
at  this  point  the  decision  of  the  Privy  Council  of  England  in  the 
case  of  the  Adelaide  Steamship  Co.,  Limited.  The  case  involved 
the  construction  of  the  Australian  Industries  Preservation  act,  the 
general  purpose  of  which  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  Sherman  law. 
The  act  provides  that  contracts  intended  to  retrain  trade  to  the  detri- 
ment of  the  public  and  monopolies  intended  to  control  commerce 
to  the  detriment  of  the  public  shall  be  unlawful.  It  is  therefore  to 
be  noted  that  the  Sherman  law  by  interpretation  of  the  Supreme 
Court  has  been  brought  to  mean  exactly  the  same  thing  as  is  pro- 
vided by  the  express  language  of  the  Australian  Industries 
Preservation  act. 

The  Adelaide  case  was  tried  in  the  lower  courts  of  Australia 
and  taken  to  the  highest  court  of  the  country.  From  there  it  was 
appealed  to  the  Privy  Council  of  England.  The  Privy  Council  is 
England's  highest  court  of  appeal  from  the  colonies,  and  in  such 
cases  corresponds  to  the  House  of  Lords,  which  is  England's  own 
court  of  last  resort.  In  the  Adelaide  case  there  sat  in  the  Privy 


128          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

Council  Viscount  Haldane,  Lord  Chancellor,  and  three  members  of 
the  House  of  Lords.  The  facts  in  that  case  briefly  were  as  follows : 

Ruinous  competition  had  existed  between  two  different  Aus- 
tralian coal  fields.  Coal  operators  began  competing  with  shipping 
companies  which  theretofore  acted  as  selling  agents.  The  Privy 
Council  says  of  the  conditions : 

"The  collieries  in  the  Newcastle  coal  field  were  ceasing  to  pay 
dividends  and  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  banks  who  had  financed 
them ;  the  miners  had  little  chance  of  an  advance  in  wages  though 
there  had  been  a  general  advance  in  prices ;  and  the  prosperity  of 
Newcastle,  which  is  dependent  on  the  coal  industry  and  the  shipping 
industry  in  connection  therewith,  was  seriously  threatened.'1 

Australian  Coal  Combination. 

To  meet  the  situation  a  combination  was  effected  early  in  1906, 
including  substantially  all  of  the  coal  operators  in  both  fields  and 
the  principal  shipping  companies.  .The  combination  was  worked  out 
through  two  agreements  called  the  vend  agreement  and  the  ship- 
ping agreement.  The  vend  agreement  fixed  uniform  wholesale 
prices  for  the  coal  and  allotted  the  trade  to  members  of  the  com- 
bination in  certain  proportions  and  limited  the  output  of  each.  The 
shipping  agreement  made  the  shipping  companies  the  selling  agents 
of  the  operators,  with  certain  price-limitation  provisions.  Under 
the  operation  of  these  agreements  the  selling  price  of  the  best  coal 
f.  o.  b.  Newcastle  increased  from  73.  6d.  to  95.  in  1906,  IDS.  in 
1907  and  us.  in  1908.  The  Attorney-General  urged  upon  the  Privy 
Council  'that  the  contracts  in  question  were  so  clearly  in  restraint 
of  trade  and  so  unenforceable  at  common  law  as  to  compel  the  con- 
clusion that  they  must  operate  to  the  detriment  of  the  public.  The 
Privy  Council  denied  the  contention  of  the  Attorney-General  and 
said : 

"In  considering  the  interests  of  consumers  it  is  impossible  to 
disregard  the  interests  of  those  who  are  engaged  in  such  produc- 
tion and  distribution.  It  can  never  be  in  the  interests  of  the  con- 
sumers that  any  article  of  consumption  should  cease  to  be  produced 
and  distributed,  as  it  certainly  would  be  unless  those  engaged  in 
its  production  or  distribution  obtained  a  fair  remuneration  for  the 
capital  employed  and  the  labor  expended.  .  .  . 

"There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  vend  agreement  was  intended 
to  preclude  competition  in  the  sense  of  underselling  among  its 
members,  and  by  this  means  to  raise  and  maintain  the  price  of  coal 
won  from  the  Newcastle  and  Maitland  coal  fields.  . 


PREJUDICE  AGAINST  REGULATION.  129 

"In  the  present  case,  however,  it  was  proved  that  the  prict^ 
prevailing  when  negotiations  for  this  agreement  commenced  were 
disastrously  low  owing  to  the  'cut-throat'  competition  which  had 
prevailed  for  some  years.  ...  It  can  never,  in  their  Lordships' 
opinion,  be  of  real  benefit  to  the  consumers  of  coal  that  colliery 
proprietors  should  carry  on* their  business  at  a  loss,  or  that  any 
profit  they  make  should  de^fcnd  upon  the  miners'  wages  being  re- 
duced to  the  minimum.  Where  these  conditions  prevail,  the  less 
remunerative  collieries  will  be  closed  down,  there  will  be  great  loss 
of  capital,  miners  will  be  thrown  out  of  employment,  less  coal  will 
be  produced  and  prices  will  consequently  rise  until  it  becomes  pos- 
sible to  reopen  the  closed  collieries  or  open  other  seams.  The  con- 
sumers of  coal  will  lose  in  the  long  run  if  the  colliery  proprietors 
do  not  make  fair  profits  or  the  miners  do  not  receive  fair  wages. 
There  is  in  this  respect  a  solidarity  of  interest  between  all  members 
of  the  public.  The  Crown,  therefore,  cannot,  in  their  Lordships' 
opinion,  rely  on  the  mere  intention  to  raise  prices  as  proving  an 
intention  to  injure  the  public.  To  prove  an  intention  to  injure  the 
public  by  raising  prices  the  intention  to  charge  excessive  or  un- 
reasonable prices  must  be  apparent.  .  .  . 

"If,  as  their  Lordships  think,  there  was  justification  for  a  com- 
bination of  colliery  proprietors  to  raise  the  price  of  coal,  it  was 
obviously  reasonable  on  their  part  to  take  precautions  to  secure  a 
market  for  their  coal  at  the  increased  price.  .  .  .  Their  Lordships 
conclude  that  neither  the  vend  agreement  nor  the  shipping  agree- 
ment taken,  separately,  nor  both  agreements  taken  together  as  parts 
of  a  single  scheme,  can  raise  any  legitimate  inference  that  any  of 
the  parties  concerned,  whether  colliery  proprietors  or  shipping  com- 
panies, acted  otherwise  than  with  a  single  view  to  their  own  ad- 
vantage, or  had  any  intention  of  raising  prices  or  annihilating  com- 
petition to  the  detriment  of  the  public." 

If  it  should  develop  that  ultimately  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  shall  adopt  the  same  line  of  reasoning  and  permit 
competitors  in  a  demoralized  industry  to  co-operate  for  the  very 
purpose  of  avoiding  cut-throat  competition  and  increasing  the 
selling  price  of  their  product  up  to  a  reasonable  level,  it  will  not  be 
the  first  time  that  the  people  of  this  country  have  gone  to  the 
continent  of  Australia  to  learn  valuable  lessons  in  self-government. 

Sherman  Law  Is  Not  Applied  Against  Carriers. 

Though  two  of  the  earliest  cases  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court, 
United  States  vs.  Trans-Missouri  Freight  Association,  166  U.  S., 


130          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

290,  decided  in  1897,  ail(J  United  States  vs.  Joint  Traffic  Associa- 
tion, 171  U.  S.,  505,  decided  1898,  held  that  the  Sherman  law 
prohibited  contracts  in  restraint  of  trade  among  common  carriers, 
the  law  has  been  invoked  only  once  in  the  past  eighteen  years 
against  common  carriers  to  enjoin  rate  making  by  agreement,  and 
then  only  in  a  case  of  greatest  emergency.  That  the  carriers  make 
their  rates,  formulate  their  rules  ana  regulate  their  practices  by 
agreements  essentially  in  violation  of  the  Sherman  law  is  conceded 
on  all  hands,  and  yet,  by  common  consensus^of  opinion  of  all  the 
people,  concurred  in  by  the  officers  of  the  government,  no  prosecu- 
tion is  undertaken  because  it  is  realized  that  it  is  absolutely  essen- 
tial that  the  provisions  of  the  Sherman  law  as  construed  by  the 
court  in  the  Trans-Missouri  Freight  Association  case,  be  violated 
in  order  that  the  business  of  the  transportation  companies  may  be 
properly  conducted.  It  is  not  at  all  certain  that  wrere  the  same 
facts  again  presented  to  it,  the  Supreme  Court  would  adhere  to 
the  rigid  construction  of  the  law  applied  in  the  Trans-Missouri 
case.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  court  will  find  in  some  of 
the  cases  now  or  shortly  hereafter  to  come  before  it  that  mere  size 
does  not  constitute  monopoly  within  the  meaning  of  the  law  and 
that  all  combinations  of  competing  interests,  though  tending  to 
restrain  trade,  do  not  constitute  such  undue  restraints  as  the  law 
condemns.  When  the  court  shall  find  that  there  are  large  businesses 
resulting  from  combination  of  competitors  that  may  lawfully  exist, 
we  shall  have  realized  an  improved  economic  situation. 

The  great  truth  that  the  welfare  of  the  individual  is  the  wel- 
fare of  the  nation  is  coming  to  be  more  and  more  recognized  every- 
day. The  financial  misfortune  of  a  particular  industry  is  becoming 
more  and  more  a  matter  of  public  concern.  Where  an  entire  in- 
dustry suffers  while  the  remainder  of  the  business  world  enjoys 
even  moderate  prosperity,  there  is  .indication  that  something  is 
wrong  with  our  laws  or  with  our  methods  of  enforcing  them.  If 
the  mining  industry  languishes  while  the  manufacturing  industries 
prosper,  there  is  evidence  of  weakness  in  the  machinery  of  govern- 
ment. Broad,  helpful,  sympathetic  co-operation  of  business  men 
with  each  other  and  with  regulating  bodies  will  make  the  problems 
of  self-government  less  difficult  of  solution  and  insure  a  greater 
measure  of  continuous  business  prosperity. 


California's  Water  Infiltration  Law. 

BY    FLETCHER    HAMILTON, 
STATE    MINERALOGIST   FOR   CALIFORNIA. 


Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen :  The  question  of  water  infiltra- 
tion in  the  oil  sands  is  one  which  has  been  in  the  minds  of  oil  men 
ever  since  oil  has  been*  pumped  out  of  the  ground  in  California,  and 
it  is  only  after  years  of  fighting  the  problem  that  public  sentiment 
has  been  such  that  some  class  of  legislation  has  been  demanded 
which  would  be  effective.  We  have  had  on  the  statute  books  of 
California  a  law  governing,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  infiltration  of 
water,  but  this  law  was  not  effective  because  there  were  no  funds 
provided  with  which  to  carry  on  the  law.  There  was  introduced 
two  years  ago,  or  about  three  years  ago  now,  in  the  Legislature  of 
California  a  law  providing  for  the  solving  of  'the  water  problem 
in  the  different  fields,  by  district  regulation.  This  did  not  seem 
to  satisfy  the  wants  of  the  oil  industry  as  a  whole,  but  the  matter 
was  laid  on  the  table  until  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature.  About 
six  months  before  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature  convened,  the 
Kern  County  Oil  Protective  Association,  and  also  some  of  the 
other  oil  men  and  oil  companies,  called  upon  me  to  interest  myself 
in  the  matter  of  legislation  to  see  if  there  was  not  some  way  of 
getting  the  oil  men  together  and  making,  a  law  which  would  be 
effective  and  satisfactory  in  its  operation  in  regulating  the  water 
trouble.  As  a  result  of  several  conferences  with  the  oil  men  and 
hearings  before  the  committees  in  the  Legislature,  two  bills  were 
introduced  in  the  Legislature  for  final  action.  At  the  last  com- 
mittee hearing,  although  there  was  'at  first  some  little  opposition, 
a  great  deal  of  satisfaction  was  shown  in  considering  the  bill  which 
has  now  become  a-  law.  There  were  one  or  two  who  held  out  for 
the  old  district  control  bill,  but  since  that  time  I  am  glad  to  say 
that  one  of  our  strongest  opponents  has  come  around  and  said  he 
is  perfectly  willing  to  give  us  his  hearty  support  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  present  law.  I  might  say  that  the  bill  as  it  now  exists 
was  passed  unanimously  by  both  houses  of  the  Legislature,  as  there 
was  only  one  opposing  vote,  and  there  was  no  particular  reason  for 
that  except  for  a  little  personal  squabble  between  two  assem- 
blymen. 


132          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

The  law,  in  the  first  place,  provides  for  state  control,  or  rather 
1  should  say,  state  supervision,  and  provides  for  an  oil  and  gas 
supervisor  to  be  appointed,  and  also  for  four  deputies  who  will  be 
established  in  the  most  important  fields  in  the  state.  These  deputies 
will  have  their  permanent  residences  in  the  fields  over  which  they 
have  supervision,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  these  deputies  to  gather  all 
the  information  possible  upon  the  oil  and  water  question,  the  logs 
of  the  wells,  histories  of  the  old  wells,  the  rate  of  production,  and 
whether  or  not  there  is  water  in  all  the  wells.  This  enables  us  to 
get  right  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  thing  in  the  first  place  and 
make  a  diagnosis  of  the  disease,  as  you  might  call  it.  The  law  is 
rather  lengthy  in  its  present  shape,  but  this  is  due  to  legal  phrase- 
ology more  than  to  the  duties  necessary  to  be  performed.  There  are 
only  three  or  four  things  which  are  provided  in  the  bill  which  the 
oil  men  are  required  to  do.  The  first  is  that  the  oil  men  shall  provide 
the  State  Mining  Bureau  with  as  complete  and  correct  logs  of  all 
the  wells  as  it  is  possible  for  them  to  give.  We  realize  that  for  some 
of  the  wells  the  history  is  unknown,  but  where  it  is  possible  a  com- 
plete history  of  all  wells  is  to  be  given,  with  the  amount  of  water 
and  gas  in  all  wells.  Such  data  are  to  be  given  correctly  as  nearly 
as  possible  to  do  so.  Before  any  well  is  abandoned  the  well  owner 
is  required  to  give  notice  to  the  State  Mining  Bureau,  through  the 
deputy  state  oil  and  gas  supervisor,  in  order  that  the  well  may  be 
abandoned  under  conditions  that  may  be  favorable  to  the  neighbors, 
and  to  the  oil  sand  itself  in  that  particular  well.  The  law  also  pro- 
vides that  where  water  is  to  be  shut  off,  the  'deputy  state  oil  and 
gas  supervisor  shall  be  notified  five  days  in  advance  of  such  shut-off 
in  order  that  a  test  may  be  made  to  satisfy  the  deputy  that  the 
water  has  been  shut  off.  It  also  requires  that  any  new  well  to  be 
drilled  shall  be  reported  to  the  deputy  state  oil  and  gas  supervisor, 
and  the  point  where  oil  or  water  is  expected  to  be  struck  shall  be 
given,  in  order  that  the  field  deputy  may  anticipate,  to  some  extent, 
just  where  a  well  is  going  to  strike  oil  or  water,  and  he  will  be 
required  to  watch  the  operation  and  see  that  th-e  well  is  drilled  in 
proper  shape.  These  are  the  particular  points  that  are  required. 

%  It  is  not  with  any  offensive  use  of  police  power  that  the  State 
Mining  Bureau  has  undertaken  this  work;  it  is  merely  for  the  best 
interests  of  the  oil  industry  that  the  State  Mining  Bureau  is  work- 
ing. If  only  one  or  two  deep  wells  are  saved  by  this  work,  which 
would  otherwise  be  lost,  the  expense  will  be  a  financial  gain  to  the 
producer. 

In  the  matter  of  providing  for  the  maintenance  of  this  Depart- 


CALIFORNIA'S    WATER    INFILTRATION    LAW.  133 

ment,  an  assessment  is  to  be  levied  upon  the  oil  producers  and  oil 
land  owners.  The  producers  are  to  be  assessed  a  certain  fee  which 
is  to  be  established  by  a  Board  consisting  of  the  State  Mineralogist, 
the  Chairman  of  the  State  Board  of  Control,  and  the  State  Comp- 
troller, who  are  to  go  over  the  necessities  for  the  year  to  follow 
and  estimate  the  cost  of  maintaining  the  Department.  The  assess- 
ment will  amount  perhaps  to  about  one-half  a  mill  per  barrel  on 
the  production.  The  total  assessment  to  be  levied  is  to  be  appor- 
tioned about  90  per  cent  upon  the  oil  production,  and  about  10  per 
cent  on  land  owned.  The  selection  of  the  oil  lands  upon  which 
this  assessment  is  to  be  levied  shall  be  determined  by  the  State  Oil 
and  Gas  Supervisor.  Assessments  are  to  be  levied  only  upon  land 
which  is  within  two  miles  of  producing  oil  wells.  A  slight  assess- 
ment will  also  be  apportioned  to  the  gas  wells. 

The  sum  of  forty-five  thousand  dollars  is  to  be  appropriated 
for  the  maintenance  of  this  department.  There  can  be  spent  in  any 
one  county  during  any  one  year,  only  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
in  the  repair  of  old  or  abandoned  wells,  or  wells  which  the  owners 
are  not  financially  able  to  take  care  of. 

In  order  to  make  this  law  enforceable  it  is  provided  also  that 
the  State  Oil  and  Gas  Supervisor  shall  make  rulings  upon  com- 
plaints of  the  well  owners  or  land  owners — or  upon  his  own  initia- 
tive if  he  see  fit.  If  complaint  be  made  against  any  oil  operator, 
and  the  Supervisor,  after  proper  inspection  and  proper  investiga- 
tion, make  certain  rulings,  within  ten  days  after  that  time  the  owner 
of  the  well  against  whom  the  ruling  has  been  made,  may  ask  for  an 
arbitration  of  the  question.  In  that  case  the  well  owner,  against 
whom  complaint  has  been  made,  shall  have  the  privilege  of  appoint- 
ing one  of  the  arbitrators ;  the  well  owners  within  a  radius  of  one 
mile  shall  have  the  right  to  appoint  the  second  arbitrator,  and  those 
two  arbitrators  shall  appoint  a  third  -arbitrator,,  and  the  question 
shall  be  finally  settled  by  the  three  arbitrators.  The  ruling  of  the 
arbitrators  supersedes  the  ruling  of  the  Oil  and  Gas  Supervisor. 
In  other  words,  after  a  ruling  is  made  by  the  Supervisor,  it  may 
be  reversed  by  the  arbitration  committee,  and  the  arbitration  com- 
mittee, which  shall  consist  of  the  oil  men  themselves,  shall  have  the 
right  to  make  any  ruling  superseding  that;  so  that  the  oil  men, 
when  you  come  down  to  the  final  analysis,  have  the  handling  of 
their  own  business.  In  this  way  the  Mining  Bureau  merely  acts  in 
an  initiative  and  supervisory  capacity.  That  is  what  the  whole 
question  has  needed  in  this  State,  and  I  think  it  is  the  problem  that 
is  met  with  in  every  state,  where  there  is  no  head  or  nucleus  to  an 


134          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

organized  effort  to  get  the  best  of  the  water  question  in  the  oil 
fields.  This  was  the  weak  point  in  the  district  control,  each  district 
following  a  different  method  of  controlling  water  infiltration.  The 
practice  of  cementing  wells,  and  of  all  oil  well  operations  will  be 
brought  together  in  one  central  office,  and  those  who  are  operating 
in  one  field  will  receive  the  benefits  of  any  new  methods  that  are  in 
use  in  other  fields,  a  condition  which  does  not  exist  at  the  present 
time  to  as  large  a  measure  as  it  should.  In  this  way,  we  shall 
endeavor,  in  an  educational  way,  to  get  the  best  of  the  water  trouble. 
We  do  not  claim  that  all  the  water  in  the  oil  fields  can  be  shut  off, 
or  be  alleviated,  but  we  do  claim  that  in  new  work  and  in  re- 
drilling,  supervision  can  be  so  ordered  that  a  minimum  of  damage 
will  ensue.  There  is  a  certain  amount  of  good  that  may  be  done 
with  old  wells. 

During  September  I  made  a  trip  through  the  oil  fields  with 
the  State  Oil  and  Gas  Supervisor,  Mr.  McLaughlin,  and  conferences 
were  held  in  all  the  oil  centers,  and  the  consensus  of  opinion  was 
that  oil  men  are  all  in  favor  of  this  legislation  and  were  all  ready 
to  lend  their  co-operation  to  the  Department.  We  put  it  up  to  them 
that  there  are  only  two  ways  in  which  this  legislation  could  fail; 
one  being  that  the  State  Mining  Bureau  would  fail  in  its  adminis- 
tration of  the  law,  and  the  other  that  the  oil  men  would  fail  in 
their  co-operation  with  the  State  Mining  Bureau.  Now  if  we  both 
live  up  to  our  end  of  it,  I  think  the  results  to  be  shown  will  more 
than  pay  for  the  expense  and  annoyance  that  the  oil  men  will  re- 
ceive under  its  administration.  W7e  have  outlined  to  them  the  fact 
that  we  are  merely  acting  as  a  Department  of  Government  for  the 
benefit  of  the  oil  industry  and  are  not  going  in  there  with  the  idea  of 
taking  advantage  of  the  powers  which  are  given  under  the  law, 
because  we  feel  that  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  exert  those  powers. 
It  is  possible  that  a  discussion  of  the  oil  law  itself  in  more  detail 
may  be  of  more  benefit  than  just  a  mere  outlining  of  the  law  as  I 
have  given  it  in  an  address  of  this  kind,  so  with  that  I  will  close 
my  remarks.  If  there  are  any  questions,  I  will  be  glad  to  do  my 
best  to  answer  them.  (Applause.) 


Federal  Control  of  Water  Power. 

HON.    J.    H.    RICHARDS, 
BOISE  CITY,  IDAHO. 


Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen : 

There  was  a  resolution  introduced  this  morning  relating  to  a 
most  important  question  to  the  public  land  states,  that  of  "Water 
Power  Sites."  This  question  is  not  only  important  because  it  touches 
the  very  vitals  of  western  development,  but  also  because  it  affects 
the  very  spirit  of  the  relation  of  the  states  to  our  Government.  The 
Committee  on  Resolutions  has  just  acted  on  this  resolution  and  will 
recommend  its  adoption.  , 

I  appreciate  the  courtesy  of  being  called  upon  to  present  for 
your  consideration  the  questions  covered  by  this  resolution,  but 
regret  that  I  have  not  prepared  specially  for  so  important  a  presenta- 
tion. I  am,  therefore,  compelled  to  speak  from  my  general  knowl- 
edge of  the  question,  gathered  from  about  thirty-five  years  resi- 
dence in  the  public  land  states,  by  means  of  which  I  have  become 
quite  familiar  with  the  needs  of  such  states,  and  from  a  knowledge 
coming  through  the  years  of  my  intimate  association  with  the  work 
of  this  Congress. 

To  quite  a  large  extent,  this  resolution  raises  certain  legal 
questions  coupled  with  certain  governmental  policies  that  have  been 
in  vogue  for  half  a  century  relating  to  the  legal  status  and  disposi- 
tion of  the  public  domain.  That  you  may  have  before  you  more 
cogently  the  thoughts  I  desire  to  convey,  I  feel  it  necessary  to 
digress  a  little  at  this  point. 

As  it  impresses  me,  the  greatest  step  ever  taken  in  govern- 
mental progress  was  when  the  American  people  established  a  gov- 
ernment by  law  and  not  by  man  because  on  that  proposition  rests 
the  hope  of  the  human  race.  The  conflict  now  raging  in  Europe 
arose  from  a  failure  to  recognize  and  establish  the  same  form  of 
government  and  'put  it  into  practice  in  its  spirit.  The  same  cry  for 
this  form  of  human  relationship  has  come  down  through  all  the 
ages  and  that  cry  will  continue  until  he  whose  right  it  is  shall 
reign — a  government  by  law,  tempered  with  mercy,  and  not  a  gov- 
ernment by  man.  This  is  the  true  basis  of  all  human  rights.  It  is 
upon  this  legal  basis  that  I  desire  to  place  before  you  a  few  thoughts 


136          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  'MINING  CONGRESS 

for  your  consideration  on  the  questions  covered  by  the  resolution. 
Our  great  rebellion  became  a  consuming  fire  on  the  question,  Shall 
the  rights  of  human  beings  be  determined  by  the  eternal  law  of 
justice,  or  shall  they  be  determined  by  man  inflamed  by  selfishness? 
That  question  in  theory  at  least  was  settled  by  the  sword  in  this 
country  forever,  I  am  sure.  Now  under  that  principle  of  a  govern- 
ment by  law  we  must  work  out  our  destiny. 

It  is  true  that  as  individuals  we  may  differ  as  to  method,  while 
we  agree  on  the  general  principle  and  each  acting  in  good  faith. 
We  are  here  to  consider  what  laws  should  govern  in  the  use  of  our 
water  powers,  not  what  man  should  govern  the  use  of  such  powers, 
and  the  relation  of  business  interests  thereto.  This  being  a  gov- 
ernment by  law,  the  wisdom  of  the  governed  in  establishing  and 
'enforcing  the  laws  by  which  their  rights  are  determined  and  estab- 
lished is  most  essential.  This  wisdom  must  largely  come  through 
research,  thought  and  experience.  To  induce  this,  the  citizen  must 
have  a  large  part  in  establishing  and  enforcing  such  laws ;  because 
such  laws  (especially  statutory)  should  be  the  highest  form  of  ex- 
pression of  the  wisdom  of  the  people  in  the  light  of  their  needs, 
and  such  laws  should  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  the  conditions 
to  which  they  are  intended  to  apply.  We  behold  the  infinitude  of 
worlds  upon  worlds  moving  in  perfect  rhythm  perpetually  by  the 
force  of  law  alone. 

It  is  our  desire  that  the  resources  of  this  great  West  should 
respond  to  human  need  and  that  our  relations  to  their  use  shall  be 
directed  by  laws  adapted  to  western  conditions  and  interpreted 
and  applied  in  the  light  of  those  conditions.  These  resources  may 
be  classified  according  to  source  as  agricultural  and  mineral.  This 
classification  places  water  in  the  mineral  class.  Every  other  material 
resource  is  destroyed  by  use,  but  water  as  a  source  of  power  can 
only  be  conserved  by  use  because  perpetually  renewed.  This  is  one 
reason  why  the  West  feels  so  vitally  interested  in  this  question. 
By  using  our  water  powers  we  conserve  all  forms  of  fuel.  This 
use  and  the  manner  of  its  use  touches  not  only  all  other  forms  of 
industry  but  the  home  and  commercial  activities  as  well.  There- 
fore we  are  most  deeply  concerned  not  only  as  to  the  character  of 
the  law  that  shall  govern  this  use,  but  more  deeply  concerned  as  to 
its  interpretation  and  application  by  those  understanding  and  in 
sympathy  with  our  local  needs  and  conditions. 

As  a  rule,  our  Federal  officers  are  splendid  men ;  but  there  is 
something  peculiar  about  men,  for  when  they  taste  power  they 
have  a  coming  appetite  therefor;  they  want  more.  We  feel  we 


FEDERAL  CONTROL  OF  WATER  POWER.  137 

should  develop  in  harmony  .with  local  conditions,  and  as  we  who 
are  here  see  those  conditions,  that  we  may  bring  out  the  best  in  us. 
There  is  too  much  of  an  effort  to  establish  theoretical  and  not 
practical  conservation  in  relation  to  the  West.  I  have  had  a  small 
part  in  this  form  of  activity  and  hopes  that  conservation  might  be 
established  on  a  practical  basis,  but  it  seems  to  be  all  going  to  theory 
so  far  as  our  water  powers  are  concerned,  and  I  want  to  keep  this 
thought  prominently  before  you  in  what  I  have  to  say.  We  feel 
the  need  of  developing  the  faculty  of  initiative  in  our  local  activi- 
ties which  is  the  real  genius  of  human  nature;  the  genius  to  do 
things.  This  form  of  development  is  the  acme  of  our  hopes.  We 
gain  this  through  the  use  of  natural  forces.  In  local  matters,  at 
least,  wre  feel  that  where  we  see  a  need  in  the  form  of  an  oppor- 
tunity that  wre  are  entitled  to  meet  that  need  by  initiating,  applying 
and  intrepreting  the  law  applicable  thereto  which  we  feel  is  the 
enduring  basis  of  true  development. 

Now  the  question  is  before  us,  Shall  the  Federal  law  determine 
our  rights  and  business. relations  in  our  local  development?  for  this 
question  touches  every  phase  of  our  local,  domestic,  industrial  and 
commercial  life.  This  brings  it  very  close  home  to  us.  We  have 
been  led  to  believe  that  the  United  States  or  this  Union  was  es- 
tablished on  the  basis  that  whatever  the  states  did  not  grant  to 
that  Union  was  reserved  to  the  states.  Is  that  correct?  No  one 
doubts  it.  That  being  true,  you  can  find  no  grant  from  the  states 
to  the  Federal  Government  by  which  the  Government  can  regulate 
our  internal  industries,  except  so  far  as  -may  be  found  necessary  in 
interstate  commerce,  and  in  some  respects  covered  by  what  is 
known  as  the  "police  power/'  We  feel  that  we  are  standing  on  a 
solid  foundation  when  we  declare  that  we  have  the  right  to  regulate 
our  own  internal  development  according  to  our  own  laws  initiated 
and  enacted  and  applied  by  ourselves.  If  that  is  correct,  then  let 
us  see  what  should  govern  our  water  power  development,  especially 
on  non-navigable  streams. 

As  I  understand  such  proposed  laws  as  are  embraced  in  what 
is  known  as  the  "Ferris  Bill"  now  before  Congress,  it  is  proposed 
to  place  this  phase  of  our  development  exclusively  under  the  control 
of  the  Federal  laws  and  have  that  law  applied  and  largely  inter- 
preted by  a  Federal  officer  three  thousands  miles  away,  with  very 
little  knowledge  of  our  local  conditions  and  with  very  little  sympathy, 
perhaps,  with  our  local  development.  They  propose  to  tax  every 
horsepower  developed  by  the  use  of  the  water  which  belongs  to  the 
state  and  not  to  the  Federal  Government.  Is  the  Government  en- 


138          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

titled  to  a  profit  on  the  use  of  the  property  of  the  state  ?  This  nation 
has  developed  into  greatness  under  the  public  land  policy  that  any 
portion  of  the  public  land  can  be  acquired  by  a  citizen  who  can 
make  a  beneficial  use  of  it.  Why  should  this  Government  demand 
a  profit  from  every  horsepower  developed  from  the  streams  of  the 
state?  I  always  assumed  that  this  Government  should  be  supported 
by  the  citizen  and  not  the  citizen  by  the  Government,  and  that  all 
income  to  the  Government  should  flow  as  directly  from  the  citizen 
as  possible,  and  that  the  enduring  strength  of  our  Government  rests 
on  the  strength  of  its  citizenship,  industrially,  financially,  morally 
and  patriotically,  and  not  on  the  amount  of  money  the  Government 
can  make  out  of  our  public  domain.  To  have  a  progressive  and 
enduring  form  of  self-government,  the  citizen  must  actively  par- 
ticipate in  initiating  and  conducting  industrial  ventures  of  all  kinds 
and  in  the  initiation  and  application  of  legislation  affecting  indus- 
trial needs,  especially  in  local  state  units.  This  develops  the  citizen 
and  thereby  strengthens  our  government. 

The  resources  on  the  public  domain,  so  far  as  directing  internal 
state  development  is  concerned,  belong  to  the  state  and  not  to  the 
nation.  The  nation  does  not  hold  public  lands  as  a  sovereign  to  do 
as  it  pleases  with  them,  but  holds  them  in  trust  for  the  use  of  the 
citizen  and  for  no  other  purpose.  Then  by  what  right  does  it  pro- 
pose to  tax  us  for  that  use?  Other  states  are  not  so  taxed.  The  con- 
sumer pays  this  tax  in  the  end.  Is  a  free  government  as  safe  resting 
on  indirect  taxation  for  its  support  as  on  direct  taxation? 

In  the  proposed  legislation  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  is  given 
power  to  determine  to  whom  he  shall  lease  such  power  sites,  on 
what  terms,  how  long,  how  much*  power  shall  be  used  by  any  one 
consumer,  the  rate  per  horsepower,  how  much  capital  should  be 
invested,  etc.,  etc.  In  other  words,  he  is  given  direction  over  our 
industrial  life  and  be  three  thousand  miles  away  and  with  little,  if 
any,  knowledge  of  our  .needs  or  the  conditions  surrounding  such 
needs.  Such  paternalism  is  not  permissible  under  our  form  of  gov- 
ernment. I  have  ever  believed  that  the  strength  of  our  nation  must 
ever  rest  on  the  strength  of  its  citizenship  in  initiative  and  product- 
ive capacity ;  a  respect  for  law,  because  he  understands  it.  To  this 
end  the  resources  in  our  public  domain  should  pass  to  the  citizen 
and  his  control  as  rapidly  as  possible,  consistent  with  such  regu- 
lated restrictions  as  to  quantity ;  and  in  relation  to  such  minerals  as 
gas  and  oil,  such  restrictions  as  to  method  of  discovery  and  working 
as  may  be  healthful. 


FEDERAL  CONTROL  OF  WATER  POWER.  139 

The  question  of  monopoly  necessarily  arises  in  considering  these 
questions.  Many  uses  of  electricity,  such  as  the  telegraph,  telephone, 
light,  heat,  etc.,  are  what  might  be  deemed  natural  monopolies.  Like 
all  other  public  uses,  such  use  should  be  regulated,  not  by  a  man 
thousands  of  miles  away,  but  by  laws  enacted  by  those  who  are 
familiar  and  in  sympathy  with  local  state  needs.  Every  state  should 
stand  equal  before  the  law  in  this  respect,  just  as  every  citizen  should 
have  an  equal  opportunity  under  the  law.  Private  monopoly  is  bad 
enough,  but  such  a  public  monopoly  is  infinitely  worse  under  our 
form  of  government.  We  have  in  Idaho  not  millions  but  billions  of 
tons  of  phosphate  rock  easily  accessible  which  many  forms  of  in- 
dustry need.  Should  they  be  thrown  open  to  private  development 
under  reasonable  legislative  restrictions,  or  should  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment dispose  of  them  under  a  leasing  system  profitable  to  the 
government,  and  thereby  direct  and  control  one  of  the  greatest  in- 
dustries in  the  State  of  Idaho? 

This  touches  the  rights  of  the  states.  The  method  of  acquiring 
title  to  public  land  should  be  simple  and  prompt,  if  that  is  to  be  the 
policy  in  the  future  as  in  the  past  of  disposing  of  our  public  lands. 
The  proposed  legislation  seeks  to  depart  from  that  policy  and  adopt 
the  policy  of  governmental  leasing  of  public  lands.  This  opens  up 
a  great  field  for  many  public  officials. 

The  following  appears  in  "The  Call"  for  this  session  of  the 
Congress : 

Whether  the  Federal  Government  shall  lease  the  coal,  oil  and 
phosphate  lands  and  water  powers,  or  whether  these  shall  pass  into 
private  ownership  and  subject  to  the  State  taxing  power,  is  a  question 
of  vital  importance  to  the  West. 

As  an  illustration:  The  coal  reserves  of  the  State  of  Wyoming  are 
estimated  at  424,085,000,000  tons.  Let  us  suppose  that  25  per  cent  of  this 
estimate  is  available  for  production.  A  royalty  of  2  cents  per  ton  to 
the  Federal  Government  would  amount  to  two  billion  dollars.  If  10  per 
cent  of  the  estimated  coal  were  to  be  placed  on  the  market  during 
the  next  hundred  years,  it  would  mean  at  2  cents  per  ton  royalty,  eight 
hundred  million  dollars — or  eight  million  dollars  annually,  to  be  derived 
by  the  Federal  Government  from  Wyoming,  while  Pennsylvania  and  the 
other  great  coal-producing  States  of  the  East  would  go  entirely  free 
from  paying  similar  tribute. 

Ten  per  cent  of  the  estimated  coal  reserve  of  the  States  of  Wyo- 
ming, Montana,  Colorado  and  Utah,  at  2  cents  per  ton  royalty,  would 
net  the  Federal  Government  twenty-five  hundred  million  dollars — one- 
third  more  than  the  aggregate  bonded  indebtedness^  all  the  States  and 
cities  of  the  United  States. 

The  water  powers  of  the  West  are  more  valuable  than  its  coal 
reserves,  and  a  most  modest  royalty  will  net  a  fabulous  income  all 
of  which  will  be  a  special  tax  upon  the  western  States  for  the  support 
of  the  National  Government,  not  imposed  on  the  eastern  States. 

This  is  one  of  the  least  important  reasons  why  the  West  protests 
against  the  proposed  leasing  and  water  power  bills. 


140          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

The  question  is  one  which  has  direct  bearing  upon  mining  devel- 
opment and  operation,  and  should  receive  the  serious  consideration  of 
the  convention. 

There  can  be  no  legal  question  as  to  the  ownership  of  the  water 
flowing  in  the  natural  streams  of  the  state  by  the  state.  If  a  state 
gives  the  citizen  the  right  to  make  a  beneficial  use  of  that  water,  by 
what  legal  right  can  the  Federal  Government  deprive  such  citizen 
of  that  use?  It  seems  fair  to  assume  as  a  legal  proposition  that  the 
people  of  the  public  land  states  have  the  right  to  direct  the  applica- 
tion of  the  waters  of  such  states  to  a  beneficial  use  (navigation  ex- 
cepted).  This  gives  them  the  right  to  enact  and  enforce  such  legis- 
lation in  relation  to  such  use  as  may  be  adapted  thereto.  These  local 
people  are  the  best  fitted  to  base  such  legislation  on  the  needs  of 
such  use  and  best  qualified  to  interpret  such  legislation  in  the  light 
of  conditions  to  which  such  legislation  is  intended  to  apply.  By  what 
legal  principle  does  the  Federal  Government  propose  to  take  this 
right  from  them?  These  local  people,  if  they  are  worthy  citizens 
of  this  great  nation,  are  capable  of  directing  their  internal  affairs 
including  intra-state  public  service  monopolies.  History  reveals  that 
absentee  landlordism  has  cursed  every  community  wherever  estab- 
lished. I  feel  impressed  that  a  development  of  public  utilities,  based 
on  local  resources,  by  a  Federal  leasing  system  is  wrong  in  spirit  and 
will  tend  to  centralization  in  those  not  conversant  or  in  sympathy 
with  local  needs — the  worst  form  of  monopoly.  Looking  at  such 
legislation  in  the  light  above  suggested,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is 
pernicious. 


The  Need  of  Better  Mining  Education. 

BY  CHARLES  F.   WILLIS, 
TUCSON,  ARIZ. 


In  the  preparation  of  a  paper  on  the  needs  and  methods  of  im- 
provement in  mining  education,  it  was  found  that  the  field  was  an 
exceedingly  large  one  to  cover.  Consequently  this  paper  has  devel- 
oped into  an  effort  to  sum  up  what  part  of  the  field  in  mining  educa- 
tion has  already  been  cultivated,  whether  that  field  has  been  suffi- 
ciently cultivated  and  is  producing  results,  and  in  what  part  of  the 
field  there  lies  the  greatest  harvest  for  the  future. 

It  seems  to  be  a  general  conviction  that  education  which  does 
not  help  towards  efficiency  in  life  work,  although  it  administers 
breadth  of  view,  is  a  luxury  intended  only  for  a  few.  When  such 
is  the  judgment  of  the  majority,  it  is  time  that  we  considered  making 
the  system  one  for  all.  There  should  be  less  of  the  old  idea  of  the 
three  R's  for  all,  with  high  culture  for  the  wealthy,  and  more  atten- 
tion to  the  systematic  instruction  of  the  industrial  unit,  the  man,  and 
making  him  as  efficient  as  possible  as  a  man,  as  a  citizen  and  as  an 
industrial  producer. 

Why  Changes  Are  Needed. 

A  few  years  ago  the  mining  engineer  was  merely  the  theorist, 
who  was  called  in  consultation,  but  today  he  is  called  upon  to  do 
that  which  he  advises.  Mining  engineering  of  the  present  day  is 
marked  with  the  dominance  of  the  commercial  over  the  technical. 
The  work  of  modern  engineering  has  resulted  in  the  development  of 
enormous  industries,  which  require  a  degree  of  skill,  intelligence 
and  knowledge  and  a  high  order  of  executive  ability,  which  was  not 
in  demand  a  few  years  ago.  While  the  demand  for  trained  leaders 
has  increased,  the  demand  for  trained  workers  has  more  rapidly  in- 
creased, but  in  the  meantime,  mining  education  has  changed  but 
little.  In  turning  over  the  pages  of  the  catalogues  of  the  various 
mining  schools  of  the  past  ten  years,  we  see  a  remarkably  small  dif- 
ference in  the  courses  offered.  Present  economic  conditions  demand 
more  than  we  have  been  giving ;  they  demand  new  types  of  schools 
which  will  have  the  same  general  motives  except  that  their  specific 
aim  must  be  to  benefit  the  industry  by  training  workmen.  We  are 


142          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

paying  more  attention  to  the  commanding  generals  and  to  the  chiefs 
of  the  staff  of  our  industrial  system,  and  unless  we  pay  corresponding 
attention  to  the  proper  technical  training  of  our  captains,  lieutenants, 
corporals  and  even  privates,  this  same  industrial  system  will  fail  in 
its  full  development,  for  any  army  must  have  well  trained  privates. 
and  corporals  if  the  efforts  of  its  commissioned  officers  are  to  be 
most  efficiently  carried  out. 

Insofar  as  the  mining  college  graduates  men  who  are  desthied 
to  enter  the  field  of  mining,  the  school  and  the  operator  stand  in  the 
relation  of  producer  and  consumer.  As  the  producer  studies  the  taste 
and  needs  of  the  individual  consumer,  so  the  mining  school  may 
very  properly  strive  to  furnish  as  one  of  its  products  men  effectively 
equipped  to  meet  the  specific  requirements  of  the  operator.  The 
operator  is  ever  on  the  watch  for  the  technically  trained  men  pos- 
sessed of  commercial  instincts,  a  factor  overlooked  by  the  average 
mining  school.  The  tendency  has  been  to  increase  specialization  in 
under-graduate  courses,  to  make  specialists  rather  than  engineers, 
tradesmen  rather  than  professional  men,  men  who  are  trained  but 
not  educated,  and  to  decrease  the  amount  of  time  devoted  to  the 
cultural  subjects  and  even  to  the  pure  sciences. 

Mining  conditions  have  increased  so  rapidly  that  it  has  greatly 
increased  the  need  for  some*  technical  training  for  all  of  those  who 
enter  the  industry.  These  changes  need  a  new  kind  of  labor  which 
has  the  requisite  adaptability  to  adjust  itself  to  the  changing  condi- 
tions. While  we  have  been  turning  to  specialization,  we  have  failed 
to  train  men  for  specialization  in  generalities. 

The  very  character  of  mining  labor  has  changed.  The  itinerant, 
self-reliant  miner,  jack-of-all-trades  and  master  of  several,  is  an 
interesting,  but  now  obsolete  type.  The  new  type  of  miner  is  not  so 
intelligent,  but  he  is*  more  obedient  and  industrious. 

We  have  all  heard  the  discussion  as  to  what  becomes  of  our 
mining  graduates.  Probably  less  than  50  per  cent  have  remained  iri 
the  industry.  There  are  several  reasons  for  this ;  physical  inability 
to  do  the  work,  failure  to  know  what  they  were,  undertaking,  lack 
of  proper  training  to  fit  them  for  a  specific  niche  in  the  industry  and 
too  high  specialization  with  the  inability  to  fill  positions  in  any  other 
line.  It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  there  is  a  large  number  of  tech- 
nically trained  men  out  of  employment,  and  it  is  largely  because 
they  have  not  been  taught  to  fill  any  positions  but  at  the  top  of  the 
ladder.  There  is  always  room  at  the  top  for  the  right  man,  but 
there  should  be  no  delusions  as  to  the  severity  of  the  competition  in 


NEED  OF  BETTER  MINING  CONDITIONS.  143 

x 

getting  there.  There  is  too  much  ignorance  on  the  part  of  students 
concerning  what  is  required  of  them  in  the  profession.  Nearly  all 
graduates  go  direct  from  school  into  the  employment  of  some  com- 
pany. They  expect  an  initial  salary  commensura\e  with  their  educa- 
tion, rather  than  with  their  ability.  At  present  the  majority  go  into 
the  drafting  room  or  assay  office,  partly  because  of  the  attractive- 
ness of  the  work,  but  chiefly  because  their  school  training  gives  them 
a  greater  initial  earning  capacity  as  draftsmen  or  assayers  than  they 
could  secure  in  any  other  department.  But  they  are  needed  in  the 
mines  as  badly  as  in  the  drafting  room,  and  they  should  have  the 
training  necessary  to  equip  them  for  such  work.  There  is  a  great 
difference  between  the  education  that  has  been  given  them  and  the 
things  they  should  know  before  their  abilities  will  be  marketable  at 
an  attractive  price. 

Years  ago  the  industry  demanded  practical  men.  Now  it  de- 
mands technically  educated  men  for  nearly  every  line  wherein  there 
lies  responsibility.  The  industry  demands  men  who  are  fitted  first 
as  engineers,  not  civil,  mechanical,  electrical  or  mining  engineers, 
but  just  engineers. 

The  first  step  in  a  comprehensive  plan  of  education  must  be 
to  educate  the  public.  If  the  general  public  realized  the  actual  con- 
ditions under  which  mining  is  conducted,  the  laws  would  be  promptly 
changed.  If  the  fact  that  mining  involves  redemption  of  capital 
were  properly  appreciated,  tax  laws  would  be  better  framed.  If  the 
public  understood  the  risks  and  rewards  in  mining,  there  would  be 
less  money  wasted  and  dishonestly  appropriated. 

Then,  we  must  educate  the  prospector.  When  the  prospector  has 
learned  how  to  develop  his  property,  we  will  get  it  in  better  shape 
for  examination ;  when  we  have  taught  him  something  about  valua- 
tion and  the  hopelessness  of  capitalizing  optimism,  we  will  have  more 
transfers  of  mining  property,  and  when  he  knows  better  how  to 
describe  his  prospect  we  will  have  more  incentive  for  examinations. 

The  present  system  fails  to  educate  men  for  the  middle  rounds 
of  the  ladder,  the  shift  bosses,  draftsmen,  skilled  mechanics,  etc. 
At  the  present  time  these  positions  are  held  either  by  men  who  have 
had  only  practical  training,  which,  unless  supplemented  by  study, 
must  be  narrow  and  without  scientific  basis,  or  else  by  men  who  have 
had  a  full  engineering  course,  a  teaming  that  is'more  extensive  and 
costly  than  is  needed  for  the  work  in  view ;  there  is  no  half  way 
offered. 

We  must  develop  the  practical  as  well  as  the  theoretical  side  of 


144          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

mining.  Every  scholastically  trained  man  at  first  objects  to  the 
practical  system  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  is  not  the  way  he  was 
trained.  It  is  astonishing  to  find  how  hard  it  is  to  overcome  the 
bias  of  tradition;  college  graduates  have  a  peculiar  reverence  for 
the  customs  and  forms  of  their  college  days  for  the  reason  that  they 
were  in  college  at  an  impressionable  age.  Consequently  any  plan 
which  tends  to  change  radically  the  way  things  were  done  when 
they  were  in  college  meets  with  opposition,  which  is  based  upon  senti- 
ment rather  than  logic. 

So  far  this  paper  has  been  concerned  with  men  who  have  had 
little  or  no  chance  to  undertake  a  technical  education  as  exemplified 
by  our  present  day  technical  schools.  But  even  in  these  technical 
schools  deficiencies  are  evident.  The  men  in  practice  have  found 
that  the  mining  graduate  is  more  often  deficient  in  the  fundamental 
principles  than  in  the  minute  details  of  his  work. 

Teaching  for  leadership  requires  more  than  that  now  given  in 
our  technical  schools.  Some  of  the  colleges  in  the  east  are  getting 
the  breadth  of  knowledge  required  for  leadership  by  requiring  an 
A.  B.  degree  before  the  technical  mining  training.  This  method 
assumes  that  the  man  has  engineering  ability  and  therefore  takes 
the  training  for  leadership  first.  This  is  putting  the  cart  before  the 
horse,  for  it  gives  the  man  the  training  for  the  top  of  the  ladder 
before  he  has  learned  how  to  manipulate  the  bottom  rounds.  Methods 
of  teaching  should  be  in  the  order  of  the  development  of  the  brain 
functions  and  apperceptive  powers,  so  that  the  experience  stimulates 
the  desire  and  effort.  Then  men  may  often  be  found  who  could  pass 
all  the  A.  B.  requirements,  and  yet  would  never  make  good  engineers. 
While  the  reverse  may  also  be  true,  still  such  men  with  technical 
ability,  although  few  administrative  powers,  will  always  find  their 
place  in  the  industry.  Again  it  is  not  practicable  to  require  an  A.  B. 
degree  before  technical  training  for  the  reason  that  few  young  men 
have  either  the  financial  means  or  the  time  at  their  disposal  which 
they  may  properly  spend  for  such  preparation.  Conditions  over 
which  they  have  no  control  make  it  necessary  for  them  to  get  started 
in  their  life  work  before  they  have  reached  the  age  of  24  or  25  years. 
Probably  95  per  cent  of  our  young  men  in  technical  schools  know 
that  they  are  going  to  school  this  year  and  hope  that  they  are  next, 
while  the  third  year  is  still  in  the  distant  future  to  be  developed. 
While  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  deprecating  the  value  of 
culture,  it  is  believed  that  the  order  of  training  should  be  in  the 
same  order  as  the  development  of  the  individual,  had  he  entered 


NEED  OF  BETTER  MINING  CONDITIONS.  145 

the  industry  with  no  training  and  developed  himself  for  leadership. 

The  variety  of  work  that  confronts  the  engineer  of  today  is  so 
great  that  more  and  more  restricted  specialization  has  been  the  in- 
evitable result,  and  in  the  effort  to  meet  this  demand,  over  specializa- 
tion has  ensued.  The  pendulum  is  now  beginning  to  swing  the  other 
way  and  in  an  increasingly  large  number  of  instances  the  decision  as 
to  the  choice  of  the  branch  of  mining  is  left  to  a  later  date,  with 
the  idea  of  giving  the  student  a  greater  maturity  of  judgment  and 
a  broader  training  in  the  fundamentals  of  general  education. 

The  Arizona  plan  was  not  devised  with  the  idea  of  turning  out 
finished  products ;  no  school  can  turn  out  accomplished  engineers  in 
the  sense  in  which  a  finished  product  leaves  a  factory.  Throughout 
his  life  man  is  in  the  process  of  development,  or,  if  he  is  not  watch- 
ful, of  decay.  The  college  can  but  start  him  right  in  the  methods 
of  thinking  and  doing,  give  him  a  clear  understanding  of  the  path 
of  his  profession  and  the  possibilities  in  it  and  guide  his  steps  with 
encouragement  and  advice. 

The  Arizona  Plan. 

After  a  study  of  the  needs  of  the  industry,  of  the  conditions 
under  which  a  school  may  work,  as  limited  by  its  finances,  its  geo- 
graphical situation  and  other  factors,  and  a  study  of  the  deficiencies 
as  seen  by  the  operations  of  our  technical  schools,  the  Arizona  plan 
was  devised,  parts  of  which  have  already  been  adopted  by  the  Ari- 
zona College  of  Mines,  while  the  remainder  is  now  under  considera-  * 
tion.  It  contains  nothing  new,  only  new  in  its  application  to  mining, 
but  does  involve  a  very  complete  rearrangement  of  ideas.  Necessarily 
the  work  must  be  divided  into  two  parts,  the  non-resident  and  the 
resident,  with  a  bridge  between  them,  allowing  for  a  ready  transfer 
in  case  the  student  so  desired.  The  non-resident  work  includes  ex- 
tension work  for  the  public,  correlated  lecture  and  correspondence  . 
work,  short  course  and  trade  education,  and  technical  and  graduate 
work.  In  each  of  these  departments  the  Arizona  plan  has  something 
to  offer. 

Non-Resident  Work. 

The  extension  department  offers  its  services  to  citizens  of  the 
state  as  an  information  bureau.  Inquiries  upon  matters  affecting 
public  or  private  interest  are  answered  through  this  medium  by 
specialists  who  also  may  be  sent,  upon  request,  to  inspect  conditions 
and  advise  as  to  the  procedure.  Great  care  is  taken  not  to  encroach 
upon  the  field  of  the  consulting  engineer. 

There  will  be  printed  lectures  for  free  distribution  on  the  gen- 


146          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

eral  subjects  of  mining,  the  importance  of  the  industry,  the  necessity 
of  protective  legislation,  safety  and  welfare,  and  many  other  sub- 
jects of  interest  to  the  general  public.  Extension  lecturers  will  travel 
about  the  state,  giving  a  series  of  talks,  to  what  might  be  called 
''mining  institutes,"  composed  of  men  particularly  interested.  In  the 
past  any  innovation  which  we  have  had  in  this  line,  as  for  instance 
in  efficiency  and  safety,  has  been  met  with  ridicule  by  the  work- 
nen,  but  it  is  thought  that  this  will  cease  when  the  men  are  shown 
the  importance  of  that  work  and  their  part  in  it. 

Going  farther  into  the  non-resident  work,  we  come  to  the  cor- 
respondence work.  Unless  other  opportunities  for  acquiring  tech- 
nical knowledge  become  practically  universal,  it  is  very  clear  that 
the  field  of  the  correspondence  school  will  find  a  great  work  to  do. 
The  fact  that  a  single  one  of  these  schools  has  now  over  200,000 
students  enrolled  is  the  best  proof  in  the  world  of  the  great  demand. 
With  a  willing  student,  a  very  satisfactory  substitute  for  school 
training  may  be  obtained. 

There  is  a  well  defined  field  for  state  correspondence  schools. 
There  are  many  young  men  who  have  had  training  in  grammar,  and 
perhaps  high  schools,  but  gain  no  other  technical  knowledge  for  lack 
of  preparation  or  for  financial  reasons.  There  are  many  more  that 
are  forced  to  end  their  careers  at  the  end  of  the  sophomore  or  junior 
years.  With  state  correspondence  schools  would  it  not  be  feasible 
to  prepare  these  young  men  to  enter  the  sophomore  or  even  the 
junior  year?  While  there  is  much  doubt  about  the  practicability  of 
giving  courses  leading  to  a  degree  by  correspondence  methods,  a  con- 
;  siderable  doubt  about  making  a  mining  engineer  by  non-resident 
methods,  there  is  undoubtedly  a  large  field  for  teaching  the  indi- 
vidual subjects  that  will  allow  a  man  to  better  himself  in  his  work, 
whether  he  be  from  the  common  school,  high  or  even  technical 

schools. 

% 

By  the  Arizona  plan  the  instructors  that  are  doing  the  extension 
work  are  at  the  same  time  the  personal  advisers  of  the  subscribers 
to  these  courses,  thus  giving  them  the  benefit  of  personal  contact. 
These  men  will  make  it  a  point  to  visit  the  students,  and  to  assist 
them  in  their  work,  to  inspire  them  to  better  work  and  particularly 
to  help  them  over  the  early  stages  when  many  students  lose  their 
interest  because  they  cannot  quite  see  its  practicability  in  the  subjects 
which  they  are  taking.  The  ordinary  correspondence  schools  are 
seriously  handicapped  by  the  fact  that  they  do  not  offer  any  labora- 
tory work,  but  this  problem  is  solved  by  the  Arizona  plan  by  having 


NEED  OF  BETTER  MINING  CONDITIONS.  147 

the  university  laboratories  open  to  them  for  certain  periods  of  the 
year. 

A  number  of  correspondence  students  in  any  of  the  compara- 
tively few  centers  of  population  in  the  state  would  make  possible 
class  instruction,  the  work  to  be  carried  on  by  the  extension  lec- 
turers. The  personal  adviser  system  of  teaching  allows  the  adviser 
to  go  down  among  the  workers  and  find  out  what  is  actually  needed 
to  make  them  more  efficient,  and  the  methods  of  teaching  are  adapted 
to  the  people  taught.  In  a  word,  the  university  shall  fare  forth, 
knock  at  the  doors  of  the  people,  and  offer  them,  not  a  hide-bound 
curriculum,  but  exactly  what  they  want. 

Resident  Work. 

Next  in  the  development  of  the  Arizona  plan  is  the  short  course 
and  trade  education.  One  great  need  for  the  short  course  and  trade 
education  is  the  moral  one.  The  worker  needs  social  recognition 
through  educational  activities  of  a  special  sort,  which  is  worth  while. 
The  lack  of  education  points  out  to  the  industrial  worker  that  he  is 
engaged  in  a  life  work  which  is  not  worthy  of  being  dignified  by  edu- 
cation. It  assumes  that  while  it  is  necessary  that  the  men  who  train, 
execute  and  administer  should  be  trained,  it  is  unnecessary  to  train 
and  educate  the  men  who  do  the  work. 

Trade  courses  are  not  new.  For  many  years  colleges  have  given 
them,  but  in  a  different  way.  The  majority  of  short  courses  attempt 
to  teach  in  two  to.  three  months  an  abbreviated  four  years'  course ; 
this  stimulates  the  student  for  greater  education,  which  is,  of  course, 
desirable,  but  other  than  the  benefit  which  such  courses  have  been 
to  the  prospector  they  fail  in  their  object  of  bettering  the  tracle. 

The  Arizona  plan  presupposes  requirements  for  certain  courses 
either  by  reason  of  experience,  education  or  correspondence.  Inten- 
sive work  is  given  on  one  subject  for  two  weeks,  which  subject  is 
a  small  unit  of  the  mining  industry.  The  year  is  divided  into  15 
two- week  periods,  and  15  courses  are  given,  each  one  complete  in 
itself,  and  yet  related  to  the  one  preceding  and  following  it.  The 
whole  year  makes  an  admirable  trade  course.  Any  portion  of  the 
year  consists  of  specialization  for  special  needs.  The  student  may 
enter  at  any  time  and  stay  two,  four,  six  or  any  number  of  weeks. 
The  subjects  given  are  in  consecutive  o*rder,  i,  elementary  mineral- 
ogy and  blow-pipe  analysis ;  2,  elementary  geology  and  petrology ; 
3,  principles  of  surveying;  4,  field  geology;  5,  fire  assaying;  6, 
cyanidation  and  the  metallurgy  of  gold  and  silver ;  7,  concentration 
and  flotation  ;  8,  mine  blacksmithing ;  9,  mine  timbering  ;  10,  practical 


148          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

mining;  11,  underground  machinery;  12,  electricity  applied  to  min- 
ing; 13,  mechanics  applied  to  mining;  14,  gas  engines;  15,  mine 
management.  The  division  is  such  that  the  student  interested  in 
prospecting  should  take  courses  I  to  4,  inclusive ;  course  5  may 
stand  alone,  may  go  with  the  first  four  courses  or  may  be  taken 
with  cyanidation  and  concentration.  One  interested  in  underground 
work  would  find  courses  8  to  n  the  most  adaptable,  and  so  on. 
With  each  subject  the  necessary  mathematics  relating  to  that  sub- 
ject will  be  given,  as  well  as  the  fundamentals  of  physics  and 
chemistry  and  the  other  applied  and  natural  sciences  as  are  neces- 
sary for  the  thorough  understanding  of  that  work.  The  courses 
are  thoroughly  practical,  designed  for  practical  men. 

The  present  four  years  course  remains  substantially  as  at  pres- 
ent in  regard  to  the  fundamentals,  physics,  chemistry  and  mathe- 
matics, but  the  Arizona  plan  involves  several  changes  in  the  rest 
of  the  system.  Courses  are  arranged  in  such  a  way  that  the  stu- 
dent is 'furnished  early  in  the  course  the  necessary  work  to  make 
him  proficient  to  obtain  and  hold  some  position  in  the  industry. 
Under  the  present  four  years  course  the  student  does  not  begin  to 
study  mining  until  the  third  or  fourth  year.  Up  to  that  time  he 
is  largely  taken  up  with  the  fundamentals.  The  course  as  now  given 
is  really  divided  into  two  periods  of  two  years,  the  first  two  years 
being  taken  up  with  the  fundamentals  and  the  last  two  with  the 
so-called  professional  work.  Hence  many  students  lack  the  in- 
spiration during  the  earlier  parts  of  their  course  and  fail  to  see 
where  some  of  the  things  that  are  taught  are  adaptable  to  their 
needs.  Many  become  discouraged  before  completing  their  work  and 
leave  school  only  to  find  that  they  are  no  better  fitted  for  a  place 
in  the  industry  than  they  were  when  they  left  high  school.  The 
present  four  years  course  gives  little  opportunity  for  the  observation 
of  a  large  variety  of  practice,  and  much  time  is  given  to  practical 
details  which  could  be  learned  in  a  much  shorter  time  in  practice. 
These  practical  details  are  often  given  at  the  sacrifice  of  a  thorough 
technical  grounding,  and  invariably  cultural  subjects  are  omitted. 

By  the  Arizona  plan  three  summers  of  practical  work  would 
be  required,  the  first  in  underground,  the  second  in  mill  and  the 
third  in  smelter  work.  It 'may  be  argued  that  this  hard  physical 
work  will  eliminate  some  students ;  undoubtedly  it  will,  but  it  will 
be  the  early  elimiriation  of  those  who  are  physically  unfit  for  mining 
work  before  the  state  has  spent  hundreds  of  dollars  upon  their 
education  and  before  they  have  spent  years  of  their  time  to  find  later 


NEED  OF  BETTER  MINING  CONDITIONS.  149 

that  they  were  unfitted  for  the  work.  It  will  steer  them  towards 
the  work  for  which  they  will  find  themselves  better  qualified. 
Through  cooperative  work  with  the  mining  companies,  the  Univer- 
sity will  place  these  men  in  positions  where  their  summer  work 
may  be  supervised  by  the  university  officials,  who  would  hold  classes 
at  the  mining  camps  during  the  summer.  The  students  will  be  edu- 
cated to  observe  and  will  see  more  and  will  get  more  out  of  their 
work  than  they  would  otherwise  do. 

Under  the  present  course  mfciy  hours  are  spent  in  laboratories 
for  the  teaching  of  ore  dressing,  cyaniding,  smelting  and  practical 
mining,  and  often  with  machinery  that  has  long  been  obsolete.  Why 
not  teach  practical  mining  at  successful  mining  camps?  Would 
it  not  be  better  to  teach  milling  at  successful  mills  and  smelting 
at  modern  reduction  plants ;  supplemented,  of  course,  by  the  neces- 
sary class  work  in  the  theory  and  underlying  principles  ?  Much 
time  would  be  saved  and  a  bigger  variety  of  better  practice  would  be 
given.  Under  the  Arizona  plan  the  senior  year  has  scheduled  35 
regular  observation  and  study  trips,  while  the  three  lower  classes 
will  have  them  at  less  frequent  intervals.  Class  work  covering  the 
theoretical  work  will  be  taken  up  on  Monday,  Tuesday  and  Wednes- 
day of  each  week,  and  from  Thursday  to  Monday  the  students  are 
in  the  field.  Cyaniding  will  be  studied  at  Pearce,  Tombstone  and 
Wickenburg ;  concentration  will  be  studied  at  Harden,  Globe,  Miami, 
Inspiration  and  Ajo;  mining  methods  at  Ray,  Bisbee,  Globe,  Miami 
and  Ajo,  and  smelting  at  Douglas,  Hay  den  and  Globe.  Geology 
may  be  studied  at  hundreds  of  places  within  easy  reach  of  Tucson. 
By  this  method  the  students  will  avoid  a  large  amount  of  detailed 
laboratory  work,  which,  at  its  best,  is  an  inefficient  substitute  for 
actual  practice.  The  student  will  get  the  benefit  of  a  large  variety 
of  practice ;  he  will  live  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  industry,  will  be 
subject  to  the  discipline  of  the  working  man  rather  than  the  freer 
life  of  the  college,  will  gain  the  acquaintance  of  the  men  in  the  in- 
dustry and  will  be  able  to  know,  upon  graduation,  what  branch  he 
desires  to  follow.  While  on  these  trips  the  students  will  be  dis- 
tributed with  the  men  in  actual  practice ;  for  instance,  one  student 
will  stay  with  the  shift  boss  all  day,  another  with  the  timber  gang, 
another  with  the  drilling  crew,  and  so  on,  changing  at  each  shift  so 
that  they  will  observe  a  variety  of  work.  The  practical  side  of. 
engineering  can  be  learned  only  in  the  mine,  mill  or  smelter,  under 
commercial  conditions,  and  the  theory  underlying,  in  a  good  college 


150          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

under  efficient  instructors,  but  the  practice  and  theory  should  be 
given  simultaneously. 

Besides  the  observation  and  study  trips,  regular  work  will  be 
done  at  a  mine  situated  near  Tucson,  which  has  been  loaned  to  the  " 
university.     This  mine  is  fully  equipped  and  has  extensive  work- 
ings, a  large  mill  and  necessary  shops. 

The  most  difficult  problem  of  engineering  education  today  is 
how  to  give  the  student  wider  culture,  and  how  to  provide  him 
with  opportunities  for  the  develofhnent  of  those  higher  social  quali- 
ties that  make  for  leadership.  To  the  average  student  there  must 
be  a  dollars  and  cents  value  in  every  subject,  but  they  should  be 
taught  that  their  college  course  is  but  the  training  necessary  to 
enable  them  to  begin  to  study  engineering,  to  inspire  them  with 
a  desire  to  become  engineers  worthy  of  the  name,  to  teach  them 
that  they  can  all  help  in  the  world's  engineering  work  by  doing 
carefully  and  conscientiously  the  work  entrusted  to  them.  By  so 
doing,  the  students  will  not  go  forth  handicapped  with  the  idea  that 
they  know  it  all,  but  with  a  willingness  to  work  and  a  desire  to  learn 
that  which  will  give  them  the  best  possible  start  on  the  way  to  be- 
come engineers. 

An  engineer,  if  he  has  it  in  him,  will  become  a  leader,  but 
reaching  the  top  is  becoming  more  and  more  difficult.  Opportuni- 
ties are  greater  than  ever  before  only  to  the  man  who  can  add  to  a 
more  intensive  technical  knowledge  a  wider  grasp  of  industrial 
affairs  and  an  ability  to  deal  effectively  with  men.  Schools  cannot 
be  expected  to  take  the  place  of  natural  ability,  but  only  to  supple- 
ment them  under  favorable  conditions  such  as  furnishing  the  en- 
vironment where  men  can  develop  broadly  for  all  work  of  life. 

Special  attention  should  be  paid  to  English.  Many  complaints 
are  heard  that  our  engineering  graduates  cannot  Vrite  an  intelligible 
letter.  If  is  not  merely  sufficient  to  form  correct  judgments;  there 
must  be  a  skilled  and  effective  presentation  of  them  in  well  chosen, 
fitting  English. 

By  the  Arizona  plan  the  cultural  work  would  start  in  the  first 
years  of  the  technical  training,  along  with  the  technical  and  prac- 
tical work.  It  is  a  matter  of  training  men  and  educating  them  at 
the  same  time.  You  can  train  a  man  better  if  you  will  educate  him, 
and  you  can  educate  him  better  if  you  are  also  training  him.  Gen- 
eral culture  comprises  such  subjects  as  better  enable  a  man  to  re- 
ceive and  enjoy  services  from  society;  an  ability  to  enjoy  the  good 
and  noble  things  in  life  is  a  check  on  many  a  misuse  of  the  com- 


NEED  OF  BETTER  MINING  CONDITIONS.  151 

pensation  received.  Again,  the  man  with  a  broad  education  is  more 
resourceful  in  his  activities,  borrowing  and  lending  his  knowledge 
of  laws  and  his  experience,  and  utilizing  the  analogies  between  the 
various  departments  of  knowledge. 

The  engineer  of  the  future  will  also  be  expected  to  be  familiar 
with  the  principles  of  law  which  may  be  encountered  during  the 
conception,  construction  and  development  of  engineering  projects. 
We  will  endeavor  to  train  them  in  engineering  jurisprudence  or 
that  part  of  law  in  which  the  engineer  is  particularly  interested. 
This  develops  reasoning  power  and  independent  thought  and  cul- 
tivates a  respect  for  the  strictly  legal  clauses  in  specifications  and 
other  engineering  documents.  It  is  not  expected  that  the  students 
who  pursue  a  course  in  engineering  jurisprudence  will  be  capable 
of  acting  as  legal  advisers,  but  they  will  be  able  to  steer  clear  of 
the  many  pitfalls  and  will  be  better  able  to  seek  legal  advice. 

We  will  endeavor  to  teach  them  about  men,  the  most  important, 
difficult  and  expensive  tools  an  engineer  uses.  While  engineering 
knowledge  is  absolutely  essential  to  the  success  of  an  engineer,  he 
acquires  and  uses  his  knowledge  through  other  men.  We  teach 
the  student  how  to  test  materials  and  how  to  use  them,  but  we  fail  to 
teach  about  men.  It  may  be  argued  that  each  man  must  learn  him- 
self by  experience  to  understand  other  men,  but  there  are  certain 
teachable  principles  to  be  followed.  This  course  will  include  biog- 
raphy, ethics  of  the  profession  and  organization ;  biography  to  fur- 
nish illustrations  of  the  principles  concerned ;  ethics,  because  it 
deals  with  the  relations  to  the  men  with  whom  he  will  be  brought 
in  contact,  and  .organization,  because  its  purpose  is  to  use  men 
effectively.  It  is  not  expected  that  such  a  course  will  make  the  stu- 
dent a  master  of  men  upon  his  graduation  any  more  than  we  ex- 
pect a  doctor  to  be  an  expert  when  he  is  graduated,  but  it  will 
broaden  his  horizon  and  will  make  his  thoughts  deeper,  and  will  also 
tend  to  make  him  pay  more  attention  to  the  men  around  him.  A 
man  who  really  understands  other  men  will  understand  himself, 
and  one  who  develops  the  best  that  is  in  the  men  around  him  will 
usually  develop  the  best  that  is  in  himself. 

The  Arizona  plan  includes  philosophy,  a  knowledge  of  which  is 
essential  to  success  in  life,  not  merely  financial  or  professional  suc- 
cess— these  are  both  desirable,  but  only  as  means  to  one  end,  to  live. 
Philosophy  teaches  the  basic  principles  of  life.  One  may  say  that 
the  knowledge  of  life  can  only  be.  gained  by  experience,  but  it  would 
be  just  as  true  to  say  the  same  of  _ engineering.  If  it  is  necessary 


152          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

to  educate  for  the  duties  of  a  profession,  it  is  equally  necessary  to 
educate  for  the  duties  of  life.  To  live  completely,  we  must  put  our- 
selves in  touch  with  the  world  and  not  in  one  small  aspect  of  it. 
The  specialist  is  valuable  insofar  as  he  knows  more  than  anyone  else 
about  some  one  subject,  but  he  gains  little  self-expression  and  his 
individuality  has  little  scope.  If  everyone  specialized,  where  would 
be  the  common  meeting  ground?  Science  consists  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  experience  in  such  a  way  that  we  may  find  therein  a  guide  to 
o,ir  behavior  towards  nature.  The  practical  philosophy  is  then 
required  to  show  us  how  we  ought  to  conduct  ourselves  so  that  our 
behavior  and  the  behavior  of  nature  shall  not  conflict.  Science 
gives  philosophy  its  subject,  and  philosophy  criticizes  the  material 
thus  furnished  in  the  light  of  the  relations  of  fact  and  knowledge. 
Philosophy  is  the  yeast  that  aids  us  to  properly  assimilate  and 
digest  the  data  of  science  and  make  it  valuable  for  practical  de- 
velopment. 

Briefly  the  broadening  influences  under  the  Arizona  plan  include 
intensively  cultural  subjects,  directly  applied  to  the  needs  of  the 
profession.  English,  engineering  jurisprudence,  business  educa- 
tion, psychology  and  philosophy  are  among  the  subjects  considered 
proper  for  the  training  of  administrators. 

The  graduate  technical  work  to  be  carried  on  would  be  research 
and  investigation  rather  than  practice  in  details  of  operation.  Re- 
search goes  well  along  the  line  of  equipping  the  brain  for  original 
work  and  it  is  to  be  done  with  a  view  to  broad  training  rather 
than  specialization. 

Inasmuch  as  mining  is  the  principle  industry  in  the  State  of 
Arizona  and  that  over  25  per  cent  of  the  adult  males  are  engaged 
in  this  industry,  it  behooves  the  state  to  supply  training  for  these 
men.  Arizona  can  do  this  well.  Its  well  equipped  university  offers 
the  place,  the  geographical  situation  of  which  is  not  to  be  surpassed 
by  any  school  in  the  country.  Hence  our  ability  to  put  in  vogue 
the  Arizona  plan,  calling  for  correspondence  education,  with  labora- 
tory work  and  personal  advisers,  correlated  extension  work,  short 
courses  and  trade  education  on  a  new  plan,  technical  school  work 
with  a  variety  of  observation  at  successful  plants,  practical  mining 
at  a  fully  equipped  mine  and  the  scientific  and  cultural  training 
given  simultaneously.  While  we  are  distinctly  conscious  of  the 
limitations  and  responsibilities  such  a  plan  imposes  on  those  who 
undertake  it,  emphasis  should  be  laid  on  its  possibilities.  Serious 
obstacles  would  undoubtedly  be  encountered,  but  we  believe  it  is 


NEED  OF  BETTER  MINING  CONDITIONS.  153 

an  educational  experiment  worth  trying.  We  believe  it  is  worth 
while  to  expand  our  plan  of  education  to  take  care  of  the  vast 
horde  of  individuals  who  do  not  now  share  its  advantages  beyond 
the  most  elementary  stages.  It  would  show,  if  wisely  administered, 
that  efficiency  in  education  and  efficiency  in  training  can  go  together. 


The  Development  of  Mine  Taxation  in  Arizona. 

G.    II .   DOWELL, 
BISBEE,   ARIZONA. 


Mr.  President  and  Members  of  the  American  Mining  Congress : 

The  paper  I  have  prepared  gives  a  brief  history  of  mine  taxa- 
tion in  Arizona.  Industrial  development  along  all  lines  during  the 
past  fifteen  years  in  Arizona  has  been  little  short  of  marvelous,  and 
the  mining  industry  has  kept  pace  with  the  others.  Concurrent  with 
this  progress  came  the  demand  for,  and  the  achievement  of,  state- 
hood with  its  expensive  official  machinery  to  be  installed,  set  in  mo- 
tion and  maintained.  An  important  part  of  this  machinery  is  the 
state  tax  commission  of  three  members,  one  of  whom  is  elected 
every  two  years  for  a  term  of  six  years.  This  Commission  is  given 
full  power  to  supervise  the  system  of  taxation  in  the  State,  and  to 
sit  as  a  board  of  equalization  in  judgment  upon  its  own  acts. 

With  the  birth  of  the  Commission  a  little  more  than  three  years 
ago,  the  old  order  of  haphazard  valuation  for  taxation  in  the  state 
passed  away,  and  a  new  order  of  things  was  inaugurated  whereby 
all  property  was  to  be  assessed  at  its  full  cash  value.  The  Commis- 
sion has  made  splendid  progress  in  perfecting  uniform  methods  of 
assessment  throughout  the  state.  It  has  efred,  however,  in  refusing 
to  recognize  the  fact  that  producing  mines  cannot  be  valued  as 
other  property  is  valued ;  that  any  official  who  is  ignorant  of  the 
mining  business  or  who  has  but  a  very  limited  knowledge  of  the 
business,  though  he  be  clothed  with  ever  so  much  authority,  can 
assess  a  producing  mine  at  its  actual  cash  value.  I  say  the  Com- 
mission has  erred  in  not  recognizing  this  fact.  Successful  candi- 
dates for  this  important  office  have  not  been  slow,  however,  to  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  about  ninety  per  cent  of  the  mineral  wealth  of  the 
state  is  produced  by  less  than  a  dozen  companies,  and  the  slogan 
"soak  the  mines"  has  been  a  sure  vote  getter.  In  the  attempt  to  place 
all  property  in  the  state  on  a  full  cash  basis  for  assessment,  mining 
property  was  valued  this  year  7*4  times  what  it  was  in  1911,  while 
'all  other  property  was  assessed  at  2.2  times  its_  valuation  in  1911. 
This  is  the  real  reason  why  the  Commission  has  so  strenuously 
opposed  a  fair  and  equitable  mine  tax  law,  which  would  limit  their 


DEVELOPMENT   OF  MINE  TAXATION   IN  ARIZONA.     155 

power  to  "soak  the  mines"  for  political  effect.  And  it  is,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  principal  reason  why  mining  men  want  such  a  law. 
As  matters  stand  now,  the  valuation  of  producing  mines  is  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  the  Tax  Commission.  In  the  light  of  past  experi- 
ence, therefore,  mining  men  have  reason  to  fear  a  further  increase 
in  the  tax  burden. 

In  view  of  the  present  undesirable  condition  of  affairs,  the 
question  naturally  arises  "What  is  the  remedy?"  I  would  suggest 
two  general  lines  of  action. 

(a)  There  is  an  educational  work  that  should  be  done.     The 
people  of  our  state  do  not  realize  the  vital  relation  between  their  own 
prosperity  and  that  of  the  mining  industry.    This  educational  work 
should  be  done  through  the  medium  of  the  Arizona  Chapter  of  the 
American  Mining  Congress.    A  sentiment  for  co-operation  between 
the  various  industries  of  the  state  must  be  created  to  replace  the 
attitude  of  antagonism  and  suspicion  that  has  been  so  successfully 
fomented  in  the  past  by  cheap  politicians.     I  am  glad  to  say  that 
something  has  been  done  in  the  past  year  to  bring  about  this  spirit 
of  co-operation,  and  the  action  recently,  taken  by  the  leading  mine 
owners  of  the  state  whereby  their  employes  will  share  in  a  small 
measure  their  adversities,  and  in  a  much  larger  measure  their  pros- 
perity, has  done  much  to  bring  to  the  employes  a  realization  that 
their  interests  are  mutual. 

(b)  The  mining  men  should  take  a  more  active  part  in  the 
political  affairs  of  the  state.     We  must  confess  that  our  interest  in 
this  direction  in  the  past  has  been  spasmodic  or  entirely  lacking. 
Right  now  there  is  a  sentiment  crystallizing  in  Arizona  among  the 
business  men  of  every  calling  and  political  faith  that  the  state  must 
be  run  on  a  business  basis  by  business  men,  and  that  the  reckless 
extravagance  of  the  past  few  years  must  stop.     Now  is  the  oppor- 
tune time  for  mining  men  to  join  hands  with  all  other  business  men 
of  the  state  in  making-  this  sentiment  effective  by  nominating  and 
electing  to  office  men  of  known  qualifications. 


Workmen's  Compensation  Insurance  and  the  Coal  Mining 

Industry. 

HERBERT  M.  WILSON, 
PITTSBURGH,    PA. 


The  coal  mining  industry  has  suffered  in  recent  years  more 
than  any  other  the  vicissitudes  of  governmental  regulation,  state, 
federal  and  industrial.  It  has  been  long  believed  by  thoughtful  stu- 
dents of  the  conditions  that  the  time  has  come  when  the  prj^e  of 
coal  should  be  placed  at  such  a  figure  as  will  not  only  pay  the  cost 
of  production,  but  will  also  earn  reasonable  interest  on  the  invest- 
ment. Not  the  least  advocate  of  concerted  action  by  the  mine  owners 
to  this  end  was  the  late  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  Joseph 
A.  Holmes. 

Americans  are  notoriously  a  wasteful  people  and  this  charge 
lies  against  the  coal  mining  industry  with  as  great  force  as  against 
any  other,  not  only  as  concerns  waste  of  natural  resources,  but 
also  as  concerns  waste  of  human  resources.  It  is  to  the  credit  of 
our  generation  that,  though  tardily,  we  have  entered  vigorously 
upon  the  correction  of  these  evils.  It  is  to  the  credit*  of  the  coal 
mining  industry  that  it  has  led  in  this  new  propaganda  for  safety 
and  that  no  other  industry  can  point  to  a  more  vigorous  and  pro- 
gressive attitude  among  the  employers  than  can  the  mining  in- 
dustry. 

State  and  Federal  legislation  has  been  adopted  with  a  view 
to  putting  into  practical  effect  the  measures  deemed  necessary  for 
the  safety  and  the  welfare  of  the  mine  worker  with  the  result  that 
there  has  been  created  a  condition  to  meet  which  adequately  in  the 
beginning  will  at  least  involve  an  expenditure  which  will  more  than 
absorb  any  profits  computed  on  present  tonnage  prices  of  coal  at 
the  mine. 

The  last,  but  in  its  potential  effect  by  no  means  the  least,  of 
these  regulative  measures  is  workmen's  compensation  legislation  and 
the  unknown  and  excessive  burdens  which  it  imposes  on  the  mine 
operator.  There  is  no  doubt  that  in  some  states  such  legislation 
has  gone  beyond  the  limits  of  all  present  reasonable  requirements 
and  that  in  these  states  at  least  a  readjustment  in  prices  or  legislative 
restrictions  must  be  immediately  effected, 


WORKMAN'S  COMPENSATION   INSURANCE.  157 

We  have  in  the  past  felt  that  the  settlement  of  a  modest  dam- 
age suit  was  adequate  compensation  to  the  injured  and  some  have 
flattered  themselves  in  the  belief  that  they  have  been  generous  in 
dispensing  such  charity.  There  was  a  time  even  within  our  genera- 
tion when  the  life  of  a  horse  or  the  value  of  a  few  sacks  of  grain 
were  rated  higher  than  human  life.  More  recently,  shyster  lawyers 
and  corporation  attorneys  have  thriven  on  the  gamble  as  to  what 
proportion  of  a  meager  liability  suit  should  be  divided  between 
them  and  the  injured.  It  was  this  condition  which  in  the  enactment 
of  workmen's  compensation  legislation  has  in  some  cases  caused  the 
pendulum  to  swing  to  the  other  extreme.  Even  the  legislators  ap- 
pear to  have  realized  the  tremendous  burdens  they  were  placing  on 
industry  since  in  many  cases  they  have  enacted  supplemental  legisla- 
tion providing  for  state  insurance  for  the  employers. 

The  great  stock  insurance  companies  were,  through  their  wide 
experience  and  the  vast  fund  of  statistical  data  in  their  possession, 
prompt  to  realize  the  extremity  in  which  the  coal  mining  industry  in 
particular  has  been  placed  because  of  the  large  indeterminate  factor 
of  catastrophe  or  mine  disaster  hazard.  It  was  at  once  evident  to 
the  casualty  insurance  companies  that  there  would  be  serious  public 
reflection  upon  them  were  they  to  underwrite  the  less  hazardous  in- 
dustries in  any  compensation  state,  thus  skimming  as  it  were,  the 
cream  off  the  milk,  leaving  the  more  hazardous  business,  that  of  the 
coal  mining  industry,  until  the  last.  They  felt  it  to  be  an  obliga- 
tion as  well  as  a  part  of  wisdom  to  seek  the  good  will  of  the  public 
by  accepting  coal  mining  business  along  with  other  industrial  risks, 
regardless  of  the  fact  that  no  one  company  felt  that  it  could  accept 
catastrophe  hazards,  and  to  the  further  fact  that  they  doubted  their 
individual  ability  to  offer  reasonable  premium  rates  with  any  as- 
surance of  earning  profits. 

Accordingly  The  Associated  Companies  was  recently  organized 
by  the  following  ten  strongest  and  best  known  casualty  companies 
in  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  viz. :  The  Aetna  Accident 
and  Liability  Company,  Hartford,  Conn. ;  Aetna  Life  Insurance 
Company,  Hartford,  Conn. ;  The  Employers'  Liability  Assurance 
Corporation,  Ltd.,  of  London,  England,  U.  S.  Branch,  Boston, 
Mass. ;  Hartford  Accident  and  Indemnity  Company,  of  Hartford, 
Conn. ;  London  Guarantee  and  Accident  Company,  Ltd.,  of  London, 
England,  U.  S.  Branch,  Chicago,  111. ;  Maryland  Casualty  Company, 
Baltimore,  Md. ;  The  Ocean  Accident  and  Guarantee  Corporation, 
Ltd.,  of  London,  England,  U.  S.  Branch,  New  York,  N.  Y. ;  The 


158          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

Standard  Accident  Insurance  Company  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  De- 
troit, Mich. ;  The  Travelers  Indemnity  Company,  Hartford,  Conn. ; 
The  Travelers  Insurance  Company,  Hartford,  Conn. 

As  managers  of  dividend  paying  mines  you  are  undoubtedly 
interested  in  any  plan  which  will  reduce  the  unknown  obligations  of 
the  distant  future  to  a  fixed  present  cost,  thereby  materially  sim- 
plifying your  financial  and  accounting  burdens.  In  the  transac- 
tion of  this  business  you  are  constantly  facing  the  probability  of 
unknown  losses,  not  least  of  these  has  been  your  unknown  obliga- 
tions under  employers'  liability  legislation.  The  rare,  but  never- 
theless menacing  catastrophe  liability  is  one  against  which  none  of 
you  could  make  provision  without  insurance  protection.  You  would 
be  bankrupt  were  you  compelled  to  pay  the  compensation  to  the 
workmen  obligated  by  the  law,  should  you  lose  the  lives  of  50  or 
100  or  more  miners  by  a  serious  disaster. 

Even  the  state  insurance  bureaus  established  in  connection  with 
Workmen's  Compensation  legislation  are  not,  as  evidenced  in  the 
case  of  West  Virginia,  strong  enough  to  safely  face  this  hazard 
under  the  imposition  of  premium  rates  which  you  would  deem 
reasonable.  This  is  due  in  a  large  measure  to  the  fact  that  such 
bureaus  operate  only  within  the  confines  of  one  state,  wrhereas  a 
stock  insurance  company  may  have  business  in  every  state. 

The  mutual  insurance  companies  are  similarly  unprepared  and 
cannot  safely  enter  this  field  of  insurance,  and  were  any  mutual 
company  or  association  of  mutual  companies  strong  enough  to  un- 
derwrite casualties  in  your  mines,  you  would  still  be  burdened  with 
this  item  as  an  unknown  liability,  and  one  therefore  detrimental  to 
the  financing  of  your  business,  for  the  reason  that  mutual  com- 
panies have  no  capital  and.no  surplus  or  reserves,  but  may  make  any 
number  of  assessments  upon  you  according  to  the  requirements. 

Probably  the  most  difficult  and  expensive  problem  to  be  faced 
should  you  attempt  self -insurance  is  that  of  following  up  the  injured 
in  their  wanderings,  in  so-called  total  disability  cases.  These  total 
disabilities,  or  so-called  permanently  injured,  are  three  times  as 
numerous  as  the  fatalities  and  in  many  states,  for  example  Pennsyl- 
vania where  compensation  must  be  paid  for  five  hundred  weeks,  or 
nearly  ten  years,  how  are  you  to  know  that  the.  injured,  who  has 
recovered  sufficiently  to  roam  f rom  Pennsylvania  to  Colorado,  or 
Washington,  may  not  have  long  ago  recovered  and  be  earning  wage 
while  you  must  continue  to  mail  him  his  monthly  indemnity?  Nor 
are  state  insurance  bureaus  able  to  follow  the  wanderer  beyond 


WORKMAN'S    COMPENSATION    INSURANCE  159 

their  borders,  while  the  range  of  activity  of  the  mutual  company 
is  equally  limited.  The  ten  stock  companies  composing  The  Asso- 
ciated Companies  have  each  their  agencies  in  every  portion  of  every 
state  and  for  this  one  item  alone  they  will  be  able  to  reduce  their 
expenses  so  greatly  compared  with  the  others  as  to  enable  them  to 
figure  a  much  lower  premium  rate  than  they  can.  Again,  and  be- 
cause the  total  assets  of  The  Associated  Companies  exceed  $250,- 
000,000  and  its  business  is  distributed  throughout  all  of  the  states 
of  the  United  States,  they  are  able  to  compute  in  the  beginning,  a 
fixed  price  at  which  a  risk  will  be  carried  for  a  stated  period  of 
time,  thus  rendering  your  obligation  certain  and  definite  and  enabling 
you  to  figure  in  advance  the  effect  of  this  charge  on  the  price  per 
ton  of  coal  production.  This  as  self-insurers  you  could  not  do  nor 
under  the  mutual  system  with  its  assessments  and  the  possible  danger 
of  insolvency  as  a  result  of  catastrophe. 

For  its  own  protection  as  well  as  for  yours  the  first  act  of 
The  Associated  Companies  was  to  organize  a  Department  of  In- 
spection and  Safety  which  it  is  its  intention  shall  lead  in  scientific 
and  practical  methods  for  protection  against  mine  accidents  and  for 
their  prevention.  The  efforts  of  that  Department  will  be  largely 
directed  toward  aiding  the  insured  to  increase  the  conditions  of 
safety  and  security  in  their  coal  mining  operations  by  putting  at 
their  service  not  only  a  new  and  independent  inspection  force,  but 
by  being  prepared  to  furnish  free  consulting  advice  as  to  the  best 
methods  which  may  be  adopted  to  this  end. 

The  plan  of  the  association  is  to  formulate  a  basis  rate  for 
each  state,  this  rate  being  dependent  upon  the  severity  and  fre- 
quency of  accidents  in  that  state,  and  the  application  of  the  law 
of  that  particular  state  thereto.  It  is  proposed  that  the  basis  rate 
shall  be  an  average  rate,  on  the  theory  that  if  every  mine  in  the 
state  were  insured  at  that  rate  it  would  just  pay  the  losses  and 
expenses  without  any  profit  to  the  association  other  than  from  bank- 
ing. The  association  proposes  to  load  its  coal  mine  rate  with  an 
overhead  charge  for  expenses  lower  than  has  ever  before  been 
knowrn  in  the  insurance  business  in  this  or  any  other  country,  in 
order  that  it  may  carry  out,  insofar  as  in  them  may  lie,  their 
humanitarian  purpose  of  increasing  the  conditions  for  safety  in 
mining. 

It  is  felt  that  the  coal  mining  industry  is  above  all  others  a 
newer  and  more  fruitful  field  in  which  to  test  the  advantages  to  the 
insurance  business  of  strenuously  advocating  safety  measures  and 


160          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

paying  premiums  therefor,  thereby  greatly  aiding  in  the  safety  move- 
ment. In  order  to  do  this  they  realize  that  it  is  essential  that  they 
fix  premium  rates  for  safe  practices  so  low  as  to  encourage  the  ex- 
tension of  their  activities  into  every  mine  in  every  state,  thereby  in- 
cre,asing  safety  in  many  mines  where  safe  measures  are  practiced 
only  in  the  breach. 

The  association  proposes  to  do  this  by  determining  an  average 
rate  for  which  they  can  theoretically  underwrite  every  coal  mine  in 
a  given  state,  and  then  to  recognize  that  some  coal  mines  should 
pay  a  higher  rate  and  some  a  lower  rate  because  of  favorable  and 
unfavorable  conditions  of  the  mine  and  its  equipment  as  well  as 
the  circumstances  or  organization  under  which  the  mining  opera- 
tions are  conducted.  This  brings  them  to  the  more  difficult  purpose 
known  as  schedule  rating,  a  system  by  means  of  which  the  average 
rate  for  a  state  is  increased  or  reduced  depending  upon  the  merits 
or  demerits  of  the  risk  from  a  physical  and  moral  standpoint.  In 
this  plan  a  proper  rate  will  be  assessed  against  each  individual  mine 
rather  than  charging  all  the  mines  alike,  and  the  effect  will  be  to 
offer  some  inducement  to  improve  conditions  of  safety  and  sanita- 
tion and  for  a  higher  moral  plane  of  operation. 

It  is  proposed,  so  far  as  is  humanly  possible,  to  produce  a 
separate  rate  for  each  individual  mine  consistent  with  their  re- 
spective risks  and  the  safety  measures  adopted  in  each  mine,  and 
then  to  put  those  mines  under  the  observation  of  skilled  inspectors 
from  the  safety  standpoint,  with  a  view  to  improvement.  If  in  time 
it  is  found  that  the  average  of  all  rates  in  a  given  state  is  lower  than 
the  average  fixed  for  that  state,  this  will  mean  either  that  each 
individual  mine  is  better  than  the  average  or  has  been  made  better 
by  the  inspection  methods,  and  this  should  result  in  a  reduction  of 
the  average  insurance  rate.  When  this  can  be  accomplished  the  as- 
sociation will  feel  that  its  efforts  have  been  successful.  Necessarily 
the  time  for  reduction  in  the  rate  of  insurance  follows  slowly  the 
improvement  which  calls  them  forth,  and  therein  may  lie  some 
measure  of  profit  to  the  insurance  association  which  it  cannot  in  the 
beginning  anticipate. 

The  Associated  Companies  proposes  to  start,  as  a  basis  to  guide 
it,  with  those  safety  practices,  precepts,  and  rules  which  the 
Federal  Bureau  of  Mines  has  indicated  for  the  protection  of  mining 
operations.  We  ask  your  aid  in  developing  the  best  safety  stand- 
ards for  each  practice  in  mining  for  your  state  or  for  the  various 
mining  districts  in  your  state.  Wherefore,  I  shall  be  glad  to  have 


WORKMAN'S  COMPENSATION   INSURANCE.  161 

your  discussion  on  this  subject  before  this  Congress  if  appropriate. 
I  especially  ask  that  the  Mining  Congress  appoint  a  committee  on 
safety  standards  with  which  we  can  confer  regarding  these  matters. 

As  to  the  adoption  of  basic  rates,  take  for  example  any  prac- 
tice such  as  digging  coal.  It  would  presumably  be  desirable  to  adopt 
for  each  state  or  district  some  average  practice  concerning  safety  as 
a  basis  for  premium  rating,  say  for  instance,  undercutting  the  coal 
and  shooting  with  black  powder  with  a  fixed  maximum  charge; 
then  for  any  less  safe  practice  as  shooting  off  the  solid  the  premium 
rate  would  be  higher,  and  for  any  more  safe  practices  such  as  under- 
cutting but  shooting  with  permissible  instead  of  black  powder  a 
lower  premium  rate  would  be  fixed.  Similarly  a  standard  should  be 
set  for  each  district  as  to  the  number  and  spacing,  method  of  dis- 
tribution, etc.,  of  timbers  at  the  face,  and  any  less  safe  practice  than 
the  standard  should  be  penalized,  and  more  safe  practices  encouraged 
by  fixing  higher  or  lower  premium  rates  than  the  base  rate  adopted 
as  standard.  Similarly  for  the  safety  organization  in  the  mine,  the 
training  of  men  in  first  aid  and  mine  rescue,  etc.  It  is  the  belief 
of  The  Associated  Companies  that  for  those  mines  adopting  the 
larger  number  of  approved  safe  practices  and  measures,  a  very 
low  premium  rate  can  be  offered  and  that  the  result  will  be  to  give 
financial  encouragement  to  all  mining  companies  to  abandon  unsafe 
and  to  introduce  the  most  safe  practices. 

The  Associated  Companies  corresponds  to  the  Fire-  Under- 
writers Association,  which  for  fire  insurance  examines  the  buildings 
offered  for  insurance,  fixes  the  rate  of  insurance  and  periodically 
inspects  and  re-examines  them.  As  compared  with  this  association, 
the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines  will  similarly  correspond  to  the  Under- 
writers Laboratories  in  Chicago,  which  latter  makes  tests  of  such 
fire  prevention  devices  as  fire  windows,  doors,  hose,  automatic 
sprinklers,  etc.,  the  Federal  Bureau  of  Mines  at  its  testing  labora- 
tories in  Pittsburgh  passing  upon  the  relative  merits  of  safety  de- 
vices in  mines,  such  as  the  various  kinds  of  explosives  and  their 
permissibility,  coal  cutting  machines,  safety  lamps,  electric  lamps, 
etc.  The  Associated  Companies  will  correspond  to  the  Fire  Under- 
writers Association  in  the  above  example,  examining  in  advance  the 
mines  offered  for  insurance,  fixing  the  base  rate  and  also  schedule 
rates  for  the  adoption  and  use  of  approved  safeguards,  devices  and 
methods,  and  periodically  re-inspecting  such  mines  largely  with  a 
view  to  suggesting  such  improvements  in  safety  measures  as  may 
earn  a  reduction  in  premium  rate. 


162          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

Ihe  extent  of  the  first  obligation  which  workmen's  compensa- 
tion imposes  upon  the  mine  operator  is  much  greater  than  many  of 
you  may  realize  and  because  of  its  magnitude  it  will  doubtless  cause 
the  fixing  by  insurance  companies  of  base  rates  in  your  several 
states  which  may  seem  prohibitive.  In  many  cases  experience  alone 
must  be  depended  upon  to  prove  to  the  mine  owner  that  high  as  such 
rates  may  appear  to  be  they  are  no  higher  than  the  law  demands  or 
than  his  self-protection  would  cost.  There  is  every  reason  to  be- 
lieve, however,  that  the  merit  or  schedule  reduction  from  the  base 
rates  which  will  result  from  inspection  will  in  all  deserving  cases, 
those  of  the  reasonably  safe  mines,  be  such  as  to  so  materially  reduce 
the  premium  as  to  meet  your  reasonable  anticipations. 


Compensation  Laws  Insurance  Accident  Prevention. 

DAVID   ROSS, 
SPRINGFIELD,   ILL. 


Any  one  of  the  questions  suggested  in  this  subject  would  sup- 
ply material  enough  for  an  entire  discourse,  but  as  they  are  all  more 
or  less  related  I  shall,  in  view  of  your  limited  time,  attempt  a  brief 
consideration  of  each  of  them. 

The  American  Mining  Congress  was  the  first  large  organiza- 
tion in  this  country,  in  which  the  employing  elements  predominate, 
to  declare  in  favor  of  the  enactment  by  the  federal  and  state  govern- 
ments of  Workmen's  Compensation  Laws.  Several  years  before 
we  had  any  state  legislation  on  this  question  the  congress  registered 
its  official  approval  of  the  principle  that  every  branch  of  productive 
industry,  none  excepted,  should  be  held  responsible  and  as  far  as 
possible,  make  good  the  financial  losses  sustained  on  account  of 
work  injuries. 

Consistent  with  this  policy  it  has  encouraged  the  repeal  of 
former  liability  procedure  and  to  the  influence  it  has  been  able  to 
bring  to  bear  upon  law  making  bodies  may  be  largely  ascribed 
the  significant  fact  that  within  the  past  sixty  months  three-fifths 
of  our  states  comprising  all  the  industrial  sections  have  adopted  the 
plan  as  a  part  of  the  public  policy  of  their  respective  common- 
wealths. 

In  all  fairness  it  ought  to  be  said  that  it  was  not,  and  is  not,  the 
purpose  to  impose  upon  employers  as  such  any  undue  burdens,  but 
rather  to  provide  a  better  and  more  equitable  distribution  of  that 
portion  of  the  expense  incident  to  all  forms  of  industrial  employ- 
ment. 

It  is  not  only  the  theory  but  the  actual  practice  to  charge  against 
industry  every  factor  entering  into  the  cost  of  production  so  that 
ultimately  the  consumers  pay  their  fair  proportion  of  every  ex- 
penditure and  risk. 

In  regard  to  compensating  the  families  of  men  killed  in  the 
line  of  their  work,  or  partially  rewarding  them  for  time  lost  be- 
cause of  work  accidents,  regardless  of  any  question  of  negligence, 
an  attempt  is  made  not  to  introduce  a  new  principle,  but  to  give  a 


164          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

wider  extension  to  an  old  one,  and  by  including  this  fuller  item  in 
the  cost  sheet  permit  the  public  to  make  its  just  contribution. 

The  placing  of  a  broken  man  in  the  same  category  with  a 
broken  machine,  figured  as  an  expense  factor,  may  give  a  jolt  to 
exalted  ethical  notions,  but  it  yields  a  larger  measure  of  immediate 
relief  and  justice  to  all  parties  than  is  possible  under  a  regime  of 
hate  creating  litigation. 

As  a  part  of  fate's  inscrutable  irony  the  coal  mining  members 
of  the  Congress  have  up  to  this  time  been  unable  to  take  full  advan- 
tage of  the  policy  they  have  recommended  others  to  accept,  and  it  is 
to  be  regretted  that  in  all  states  where  optional  compensation  laws 
are  in  effect,  mine  operators,  or  a  great  majority  of  them,  have 
elected  to  reject  such  legislation  partly,  it  is  stated,  on  account  of 
increased  insurance  costs,  and  this  brings  me  to  a  consideration  of 
some  of  the  points  advanced  in  the  very  able  address  of  Mr.  Herbert 
M.  Wilson,  who,  as  Director  of  Inspection  and  Safety  of  The  Asso- 
ciated Companies,  has  given  us  a  comprehensive  outline  of  the 
plans  of  the  new  insurance  syndicate  accompanied  by  a  statement 
of  the  reasons  for  its  formation. 

The  hope  expressed  by  Mr.  Wilson  for.  an  early  improvement 
in  the  condition  of  the  coal  mining  industry  is  certainly  shared  by 
all  directly  connected  with  it,  and  his  reference  to  certain  federal 
legislation  which  has  discouraged  and  prevented  legitimate  organiza- 
tion, so  far  as  effect  on  prices  is  concerned,  is  timely  and  to  the 
point.  Considering  how  essential  the  mining  of  co'al  is  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  nation  and  how  much  we  owe  to  it  for  our  prestige  as  a 
manufacturing  power,  there  is  no  line  of  public  activity  that  offers 
so  little  inducement  for  the  investment  of  capital. 

In  an  address  delivered  before  a  recent  session  of  the  Congress, 
Dr.  Parker,  at  that  time  statistician  for  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey,  submitted  figures,  taken  from  the  records  of  coal  corpora- 
tions showing  that  in  six  states  the  cost  of  producing  coal  exceeded 
the  actual  income,  while  in  six  other  states  comprising  the  principal 
coal  producing  regions  of  the  country,  the  margin  of  profit  varied 
from  one  to  two  per  cent  and  that  all  of  the  operations  in  those 
states  would  have  disclosed  a  deficit  if  proper  allowance  had  been 
made  for  interest  and  depreciation.  Many  of  the  oldest  and  most 
conservatively  managed  mining  properties  today  are  either  idle  or 
in  the  hands  of  receivers  and  it  is  safe  to  assert  that  present  capacity 
and  equipment  are  fully  TOO  per  cent  in  advance  of  normal  market 
requirements. 


COMPENSATION  LAWS;  ACCIDENT  PREVENTION.       U\5 

In  the  face  of  a  situation  of  this  sort  aggravated  as  it  is  by  the 
fiercest  kind  of  a  competitive  struggle,  it  is  hardly  to  be  wondered 
at  that  any  suggestion  involving  what  appears  like  an  increase  in  the 
cost  of  operation  for  any  purpose  whatever  would  excite  criticism 
and  opposition.  No  single  industrial  interest  has  suffered  so  much 
from  the  pressure  of  its  own  surplus  as  that  of  coal  mining,  nor 
has  any  been  the  victim  to  such  an  extent  of  the  misguided  wisdom 
revealed  in  the  so-called  Sherman  Anti-Trust  Law,  and  its  numerous 
mistaken  interpretations. 

Bad  as  conditions  are,  however,  we  are  not  entirely  without 
hope  for  the  future  and  some  nondescript  salvation  is  offered  in  the 
form  of  another  congressional  act  creating  a  Federal  Trades  Com- 
mission, whose  function  it  might  be  to  paralyze  the  hand  or  close 
the  eye  of  the  Sherman  act  to  some  technical  violation  when  satis- 
fied that  the  effects  would  not  be  destructive.  From  this  conception 
of  its  potentialities  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  petition  of  the 
coal  mine  owners  of  .Indiana  will  be  granted  and  the  citizens  of 
that  sovereign  state  permitted  to  combine — not  to  increase  the  selling 
price  of  their  products  as  they  have  made  no  such  request — but  to 
reduce  by  organized  action  the  expense  of  present  business  methods. 

Partly  in  consequence  of  limited  markets  and  low  prices  coal 
mine  operators  have  felt  the  necessity  of  economizing  in  every  pos- 
sible way  and  when,  following  the  enactment  of  Workmen's  Com- 
pensation Laws,  they  were  required  by  the  terms  of  such  acts  to  in- 
sure against  their  new  liabilities,  they,  or  most  of  them,  either  elected 
to  operate  outside  of  the  law  or  sought  temporarily  the  relief  prom- 
ised in  the  prospectus  of  some  Mutual,  Reciprocal  or  State  Insurance 
schemes,  or  ventured  to  embark  in  the  insurance  business  on  their 
own  account. 

Mr.  Wilson's  statement  of  the  essential  inadequacy  of  these 
different  and  limited  forms  of  insurance  is,  without  condemning  any 
of  them,  abundantly  sustained  by  experience  in  recent  years.  Con- 
clusive also  is  the  explanation  he  offers  fpr  the  various  rates  fixed 
by  casualty  companies  in  accordance  with  experience  and  the  meas- 
ure of  benefits  provided  in  different  compensation  laws: 

As  explained  these  rates  may  appear  high,  but  only  when  com- 
pared with  those  charged  under  liability  for  but  partial  protection. 
Policies  issued  under  the  old  plan  were  limited  to  five  and  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  regardless  of  the  number  of  lives  lost  resulting  from  any 
one  accident.  Because  they  were  limited  in  this  way  it  was  not  real 


166          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

insurance  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  was  intended  and  used  by  employ- 
ers as  a  means  of  protection  against  law  suits. 

Obligations  under  Workmen's  Compensation  Laws  which  in- 
surance companies  assume  on  the  employer's  behalf,  'are  of  an  en- 
tirely different  nature.  Compensation  insurance  furnishes  complete 
protection  to  the  employer  and  covers  every  element  of  expense  con- 
nected with  every  accident  from  the  moment  of  its  occurrence  until 
the  recovery  or  death  of  the  injured.  This  includes  medical,  surgical 
and  hospital  services ;  from  50  to  66%  per  cent  of  average  weekly 
earnings  commencing  at  the  expiration  of  the  first  or  second  week 
following  the  injury  and  continuing  until  such  payments  equal  the 
aggregate  for  death,  varying  in  different  states  from  three  to  six 
thousand  dollars,  and  more  in  cases  of  total  disability,  in  addition 
thereto  specific  amounts  for  the  loss  of  any  member  of  the  body  or 
for  any  disfigurement  to  the  hands  and  face,  besides  liberal  sums 
for  funeral  expenses.  Added  to  these  obligations  and  to  make  cer- 
tain the  payment  of  compensation  together  with  all  other  expenses 
the  insurance  company,  in  the  event  of  an  employer's  insolvency,  is 
held  responsible. 

These  are  but  parts  of  the  expense  entailed  in  the  conduct  of 
every  business  and  they  are  legitimately  chargeable  to  it.  This  is 
the  policy  to  which  as  members  of  the  Congress  in  endorsing  the 
compensation  plan  we  unreservedly  committed  ourselves,  and  the 
industry  that  is  not  prepared  to  fully  meet  all  of  its  obligations  in 
this  respect  proclaims  itself  in  the  parasitic  class  and  ought  to  be 
abandoned. 

The  very  general  enactment  of  Workmen's  Compensation  Laws 
in  this  country,  and  the  necessity  for  adequate  and  solvent  insurance 
which  their  successful  administration  requires,  make  the  problem  a 
national  one,  and  only  an  organization  like  that  proposed  by  The 
Associated  Companies,  backed  as  it  is  with  a  capital  of  over  a 
quarter  of  a  billion  dollars,  and  what  is  equally  important  with 
the  best  and  most  experienced  management,  is  competent  to  solve 
it.  By  including  all  the  mines  in  the  country  it  will  be  possible  to 
obtain  general  average  results  upon  which  to  charge  reasonable  in- 
surance rates,  and  the  companies,  as  indicated  by  Mr.  Wilson,  in 
offering  this  service  to  the  operators  of  coal  mines  practically  pro- 
pose to  render  it  on  a  cost  basis  so  far  as  any  underwriting  profits 
are  concerned. 

Two  features  prominent  in  the  new  plan  of  insurance  should 
appeal  strongly  to  mine  owners,  first,  the  application  of  the  schedule 


COMPENSATION  LAWS;  ACCIDENT  PREVENTION'.       167 

or  merit  rating  principle  to  mine  risks,  and  second,  the  inducement 
it  supplies  for  effective  accident  prevention  activity.  Mines  that 
are  rendered  extra  dangerous  partly  through  the  indifference  of 
operators  or  the  unsafe  practices  of  its  workmen,  should  be  penalized 
by  increased  insurance  charges,  and,  reversely,  mines  that  are  made 
comparatively  safe  by  observing  the  law  and  enforcing  safety  regula- 
tions should  be  encouraged  and  rewarded  in  the  form  of  reduced 
rates.  This  result  has  followed  the  application  of  the  merit  rule  to 
other  industrial  risks  and  there  is  no  reason  why  it  would  not  operate 
as  successfully  with  the  greater  hazards  of  coal  mining,  so  that 
the  general  adoption  of  such  a  policy  would  mean  to  increase  min- 
ing profits  at  least  to  the  extent  that  it  would  reduce  mine  expenses 
through  diminished  accidents. 

The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  success  of  any  restricted  plan 
of  coalmine  insurance,  as  indicated  by  Mr.  Wilson,  are  the  constant 
catastrophe  hazards  peculiar  heretofore  to  that  kind  of  employment. 
It  is  this  which  has  discouraged  even  strong  stock  companies  acting 
separately  from 'the  unlimited  underwriting  of  such  risks,  and  ex- 
plains, even  under  a  limited  trial,  the  impairment  of  the  state  fund 
in  West  Virginia,  the  necessity  for  frequent  revision  increasing  the 
rates  for  mining  under  the  Ohio  experiment,  and  the  recent  failure 
in  Illinois  of  the  Coal  Mine  Operators'  Mutual  Insurance  Com- 
pany. From  January,  1914,  to  May  of  the  present  year,  476  lives 
were  lost  in  separate  accidents  involving  from  five  to  one  hundred 
and -eighty-one  men,  the  cause  in  most  instances  being  due  to  gas 
explosions.  Not  so  long  ago  256  men  lost  their  lives  in  Illinois  in 
consequence  of  a  mine  fire,  while  just  recently  263  men  were  killed 
in  a  mine  explosion  at  Dawson,  New  Mexico.  Unlooked  for  losses 
of  these  magnitudes  threaten  the  solvency  of  the  average  separate 
employing  or  insuring  company,  and  argue  strongly  in  favor  of  an 
association  formed  for  protection  and  prevention  on  nation-wide 
lines. 

The  purpose  of  the  government  in  creating  the  Bureau  of  Mines 
was  chiefly  to  conserve  human  life  and  considering  the  manner  in 
which  it  has  been  handicapped  by  lack  of  sufficient  funds,  a  wonder- 
ful start  in  that  way  has  been  made,  but  the  actual  work  has  scarce- 
ly begun.  There  still  rests  upon  our  people  the  fearful  indictment 
that  in  the  operation  of  coal  mines  we  are  killing,  even  under  present 
improved  conditions,  nearly  three  times  as  many  men  as  the  same 
industry  in  Europe,  and  the  business  there  is  conducted  under  con- 
ditions normally  more  dangerous  than  prevail  in  the  United  States. 


168          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

What  is  the  reason  and  explanation  for  this?  Some  mining  ex- 
perts 'have  offered  the  excuse  that  the  frequency  of  American  coal 
mine  accidents  is  due  entirely  to  the  employment  of  so  many  un- 
skilled, non- English  speaking  men.  This  apology  might  pass  if  only 
that  class  of  people  were  being  injured  and  killed,  but  unfortunately 
the  record  discloses  that  the  old,  experienced  English-speaking 
miners  contribute,  according  to  numbers,  more  than  their  share  of 
the  accidents.  As  an  answer  to  this  it  has  been  urged  and  with 
some  force  that  foreign-speaking  miners  as  a  class  are  more  respon- 
sive to  discipline,  they  will  do  what  they  are  directed  to  do,  which 
is  not  true  in  the  case  of  too  many  who  speak  the  English  language, 
and  this  trait  in  our  American  character  has  helped  to  delay  the 
progress  of  the  safety  movement.  Many  of  our  people  in  their 
pride  imagine  they  know  too  much  to  be  told  anything.  If  for 
instance  the  mine  inspector  asks  or  otherwise  indicates  to  a  foreign 
miner  in  the  interest  of  his  own  safety  to  set  a  prop  in  a  certain 
place  the  chances  are  he  will  do  so  without  question.  If  a  like  request 
were  addressed  to  an  American  miner  most  likely  he  would  insist 
on  discussing  the  matter  comparing  his  own  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence with  that  of  the  inspector  as  to  where  roof  supports  should  be 
located. 

The  reason  for  our  unfavorable  mine  accident  record  is  to  be 
found  in  our  general  disregard  for  law,  supplemented  by  imperfect 
supervision,  unsafe  work  practices,  and  incompetence,  combined 
with  carelessness  on  the  part  of  many  employes.  Belgium  has  the 
deepest  and  most  dangerous  mines  in  the  wrorld  and  presents  the 
lowest  fatality  rate,  its  workers,  like  those  in  English,  French  and 
German  mines,  know  what  law  and  strict  enforcement  of  mine 
safety  regulations  mean  in  those  countries,  besides  they  are  edu- 
cated to  understand  and  use  the  legitimate  implements  of  that  craft. 
It  requires  but  a  short  apprenticeship  in  American  mines  to  enable 
a  person  to  forget,  if  he  ever  knew,  the  function  of  a  pick.  In  this 
country  anyone  knowing  enough  to  turn  the  crank  of  a  drill  can  qual- 
ify as  an  American  miner. 

Last  year  2,451  men  were  killed  in  or  about  our  coal  mines. 
This  means  that  a  dozen  dead  men  were  taken  out  of  the  mines  dur- 
ing the  course  of  every  working  day,  in  addition  to  100,000  injured. 
Of  these  appalling  occurrences,  it  is  estimated  that  fully  three- 
fourths  of  them  were  directly  due  to  carelessness,  to  law  violations, 
and  a  general  indifference  to  dangers. 

Legislative  bodies  as  a  rule  are  responsive  and  our  difficulty 


COMPENSATION  LAWS;  ACCIDENT  PREVENTION.       169 

has  not  been  in  a  failure  to  secure  enactments  so  much  as  in  the 
enforcement  of  mining  and  other  regulations,  and  in  the  observance 
of  safer  work  methods. 

If  75  per  cent  of  coal  mine  accidents  are  preventable  they  should 
be  avoided  and  they  can  be  avoided  if  to  begin  with  the  management 
is  sincerely  interested  in  insisting  upon  the  adoption  of  safer  working 
plans,  and  willing  to  give  substantial  evidence  of  such  interest. 
Heretofore  we  have  been  inclined  to  rely  too  much  on  the  mere 
law-making  power  and  not  enough  on  our  own  initiative  to  do  the 
things  necessary  to  convince  employes  that  the  management  is  not 
only  in  earnest  but  ready  and  anxious  to  co-operate  with  them  along 
safety  lines  in  a  way  that  will  count  for  something. 

This  is  not  theorizing  or  indulging  sentiment  as  such  plans 
are  now  in  effective  operation  at  several  of  the  larger  mining  plants 
in  the  United  States,  and  the  results  in  accident  prevention  are  such 
as  to  indicate  what  might  be  expected  if  like  efforts  and  methods 
were  applied  in  the  case  of  every  coal  mine  in  the  land.  If  the  cause 
of  killing  and  crippling  men  is  due  in  any  respect  to  a  lack  of  knowl- 
edge of  the  English  language  that  obstacle  can  be  easily  removed 
by  the  opening  of  schools  in  which  to  teach  adult  miners  to  Speak  the 
language.  This  is  a-  part  of  the  educational  work  that  many  indus- 
trial plants  are  now  successfully  prosecuting.  If  these  results  be 
due  to  the  ignorance  or  carelessness  of  men  while  at  work,  then,  as 
over  50  per  cent  of  all  mine  accidents  are  caused  by  falling  coal  and 
rock  at  the  face  of  the  working  places,  it  is  possible  in  a  large  meas- 
ure to  control  a  major  portion  of  such  accidents  by  the  employment 
of  trained  face  bosses  or  inspectors.  This  is  the  plan  now  in  effect 
by  many  of  our  up-to-date  mining  properties  and  from  it,  it  is 
claimed,  the  greatest  saving  in  accident  account  is  effected. 

In  the  class  of  mines  to  which  reference  is  here  made  a  regular 
safety  system  of  organization  is  maintained,  including  the  appoint- 
ment of  committees  from  time  to  time  employed  at  the  company's 
expense  whose  duty  it  is  to  go  over  and  inspect  the  entire  mine  and 
report  any  dangerous  conditions  or  recommend  any  changes  that  , 
would  make  more  safe  its  operation.  Because  of  frequent  changes  in 
the  personnel  of  such  inspection  committees  a  spirit  of  rivalry  has 
been  generated  among  them  and  special  efforts  made  to  determine 
which  is  entitled  to  most  credit  for  suggesting  and  having  adopted 
.safety  recommendations.  This  and  other  phases  of  the  work  like  the 
maintenance  of  rescue  and  first  aid  corps  appeals  to  and  interests 


170          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

the  mine  workers  and  there  is  no  better  or  more  attractive  way  of 
getting  recruits  for  the  army  of  safety  boosters. 

Let  us  note  the  effect  of  these  safety  plans  on  the  proportion 
of  mine  accidents  whether  figured  on  the  basis  of  tonnage  or  men 
employed.  According  to  statistics  compiled  by  the  Bureau  of  Mines 
the  loss  last  year  for  the  country  was  3.30  for  every  1,000  men 
employed,  varying  from  .87  in  Michigan  to  7.43  in  West  Virginia. 
Illinois  is  the  largest  coal  producing  state  with  a  death  rate  of  less 
than  2  per  1,000  employed.  For  the  United  States  there  was  one 
fatality  for  every  208,078,  for  Illinois  381,860  tons.  The  Superior 
Coal  Co.,  operating  three  mines  at  Gillespie,  Illinois,  where  every 
precaution  is  taken  for  safety,  produced  last  year  2,534,312  tons 
with  three  fatal  accidents  or  an  output  of  844,771  per  death,  or  a 
production  per  fatality  of  more  than  four  times  that  for  the  United 
States.  If  this  ratio  Jiad  been  maintained  throughout  the  country 
the  total  mine  death  roll  instead  of  2,541,  would  have  been  but 
415,  or  a  saving  of  2,126  lives,  a  result  certainly  worthy  of  the  most 
strenuous  efforts. 

This  is  not  an  isolated  instance  as  other  mine  properties  under 
similar  safety  management  are  realizing  like  results  and  they  all 
serve  to  impress  us  with  the  solemn  duty  of  saving  life  which  is 
not  only  the  most  valuable  asset,  but  counts  heavily  on  the  profit 
side  of  every  productive  enterprise. 

If  limited  markets  and  excessive  competition  are  to  prevent  any 
immediate  increase  in  coal  mine  earnings  the  plan  of  national  co- 
operative action,  embodied  in  the  proposition  of  the  Associated  Com- 
panies, promises  a  material  reduction  in  operating  expenses  which  in 
turn  may  prove  the  entering  wedge  for  a  more  compact  commercial 
organization  making  its  influence  felt  on  coal  prices. 

In  the  great  work  of  classifying  and  standardizing  coal  mines 
for  safety  the  facilities  and  vast  resources  of  the  Federal  Bureau 
of  Mines  are  at  your  service,  and  the  Congress  should  avail  itself 
of  the  opportunity  at  this  session  by  appointing,  as  Mr.  Wilson 
requests,  a  representative  committee  for  that  purpose. 

In  view  of  the  results  already  realized  in  other  lines  of  employ- 
ment, it  is  reasonable  to  assert  that  the  adoption  and  enforcement  of 
uniform  safety  standards  would  prevent  fully  three-fourths  of  pres- 
ent ordinary  mine  accidents,  including  a  substantial  control  of 
catastrophe  hazards  created  in  almost  every  case  by  careless,  unlaw- 
ful practices. 

It  is  only  within  the  past  few  yearsttha-t  the  scientific  principle 


COMPENSATION  LAWS;  ACCIDENT  PREVENTION.       171 

of  merit  rating  has  been  applied  to  industrial  risks,  and  an  actual 
test  of  its  efficiency  has  demonstrated  its  value  as  a  life  and  money 
saver. 

Manager  Whitney,  of  the  Workmen's  Compensation  Bureau, 
informs  us  that  the  schedule  system  is  now  in  effect  in  thirteen 
states,  that  inspections  during  the  past  year  have  been  made  on 
20,000  plants  employing  1,200,000  employes,  with  a  pay  roll  of 
$7,000,000,  and  that  since  its  introduction  there  has  been  a  reduction 
in  insurance  premiums  of  over  $2,000,000. 

This,  as  Mr.  Whitney  observes,  represents  a  saving  of  $2,000,- 
ooo  in  lives  and  limbs  measured  in  terms  of  compensation  benefits, 
and  many  times  that  sum  in  actual  value. 

As  the  total  amount  charged  for  insurance  protection  under  this 
modern  method  is  entirely  conditioned  upon  the  insured's  ability 
to  keep  plants  up  to  or  above  standard  the  financial  incentive  it  offers 
for  greater  safety  places  the  ultimate  expense  for  such  service  large- 
ly within  the  control  of  employers. 

This  plan  of  determining  the  actual  cost  of  insurance  is  in  part 
the  outgrowth  of  the  new  obligations  created  by  Workmen's  Com- 
pensation Laws,  and  the  chief  claim  in  its  favor  is  the  direct  in- 
fluence it  exerts  in  the  more  important  consideration  of  preventing 
accidents. 

The  problem  so  far  as  mining  generally  is  concerned  is  ad- 
mittedly a  serious  one,  but  through  the  active  co-operation  of  mine 
workers  and  mine  owners,  supplemented  by  a  strong  national  in- 
surance agency,  like  that  represented  by  The  Associated  Companies, 
its  practical  solution  is  assured. 


Mining  Hazards  On  the  Pacific  Coast. 

FREDERICK   L.    HOFFMAN, 
NEWARK,    NEW    JERSEY. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Members  of  the  American  Mining  Congress: 

I  have  not  been  able  to  prepare  a  paper  for,  this  occasion  on 
account  of  the  fact  that  for  the  last  two  months  I  have  been  actively 
engaged  more  or  less  in  an  investigation  of  .mining  hazards  in  the 
states  of  California  and  Nevada.  My  remarks  will,  therefore,  be 
rather  brief,  and  limited  to  essential  details  of  underground  and 
surface  conditions  affecting  miners,  and  others  employed  in  the 
Pacific  Coast  mining  industries,  with  some  incidental  observations 
on -smelting  and  refining'. 

The  mining  fatality  rates  on  the  Pacific  Coast  are,  generally 
speaking,  excessively  high.  It  is  safe  to  maintain  that  the  normal 
crude  fatality  rate  in  metal  mining  ^hould  not  exceed  2.5  per  1,000 
employed.  For  the  United  States  as  a  whole  the  rate  for  1913  (no 
later  statistics  being  as  yet  available)  was  3.54  per  1,000,  which 
compares  with  a  rate  of  4.53  for  California  and  3.42  for  Nevada. 
Considering  underground  employes  only,  the  rate  for  Jhe  United 
States  was  4.29,  against  5.38  for  California,  and  3.84  for  Nevada, 
per  1,000  employed.  Since  it  is- only  for  very  recent  years  that  data 
have  been  available  for  California,  through  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  it 
would  serve  no  useful  purpose  to  discuss  the  question  historically, 
but  there  are  convincing  reasons  for  believing  that  in  former  years 
the  fatality  rate  must  have  been  higher  than  it  is  at  the  present 
time. 

The  fatality  rate  varies  more  or  less  according  to  the  metal 
mined,  but  my  own  investigations  have  thus  far  only  included  the 
gold  and  quicksilver  mines  of  California  and  Nevada.  I  hope,  some 
time  in  the  future,  to  be  able  to  thoroughly  examine  into  the  under- 
ground conditions  of  copper  mines,  and  miscellaneous  metals  and 
minerals,  which,  of  course,  are  of  relatively  less  importance  as  an 
accident  and  insurance  problem. 

The  fatality  rate  for  the  gold  and  miscellaneous  metal  mines  of 
California  for  1913  was,  4.42  per  1,000;  for  Nevada,  2.84;  and  for 
the  United  States  as  a  whole,  3.43.  For  underground  employes 


MINING  HAZARDS  ON  THE  PACIFIC  COAST.  173 

only,  the  rate  for  California  was  5. 13 ;  for  Nevada,  3.86 ;  and  for  the 
United  States  as  a  whole,  3.9. 

For  the  copper  mines  of  California  the  fatality  rate  for  1913 
was  5.15  per  1,000;  for  Nevada,  5.15;  and  for  the  United  States, 
4.20.  The  relatively  high  rate  for  Nevada  is  probably  in  part  due 
to  the  rather  exceptional  methods  of  open-cut  mining  in  the  Ely 
district.  It,  of  course,  would  be  erroneous  to  compare,  without  a 
due  regard  to  actual  conditions,  the  fatality  rate  of  such  a  district 
with  typical  underground  mining  methods  in  the  copper  mines  of 
California.  This  is  best  explained  by  the  statement  that  fatal  acci- 
dents on  the  surface  caused  a  fatality  rate  of  2.33  in  the  copper 
mines  of  California,  against  6.62  per  1,000  in  Nevada.  It  is  rather 
interesting,  however,  to  note  that  in  the  adjoining  copper  mining 
district  of  Utah,  at  Bingham,  where  practically  the  same  methods 
are  followed  as  at  Ely,  the  surface  fatality  rate  was  only  2.44  per 
1,000.  According  to  a  recent  report  of  the  United  States  Bureau 
of  Mines  "Nevada  and  Montana  are  the  only  states  that  show  a 
continuous  reduction  of  fatal  accidents  during  the  four  years  covered 
by  the  Bureau  reports,'' 

Fatality  rates  for  a  single  year  are  not  an  entirely  trustworthy 
indication,  but  in  a  general  way  the  foregoing  statistics  are  sufficient 
for  the  purpose  of  emphasizing  the  rather  excessive  prevailing 
fatality  rates  in  metal  mining  in  California  and  Nevada,  and  the 
high  average  fatality  rate  in  metal  mining  throughout  the  United 
States. 

As  a  first  .impression  of  present-day  mining  conditions  in  Cali- 
fornia and  Nevada,  I  am  frank  to  say  that  my  general  conclusions 
are  decidedly  favorable.  In  both  states  the  obtainable  evidence  is 
readily  convincing  that  much  is  being  done  to  improve  underground 
conditions  and  to  bring  about  a  condition  of  safety  in  reasonable 
conformity  to  modern  requirements,  strongly  influenced,  naturally, 
by  the  more  or  less  drastic  provisions  of  workmen's  compensation 
laws.  The  progress  which  has  been  made  is,  however,  also  in  a  large 
measure  the  result  of  a  broadening  conception  of  mine  owners'  re- 
sponsibility, on  ethical  and  economic  grounds  as  separate  and  dis- 
tinct from  the  legal  responsibility  imposed  upon  the  mineral  indus- 
try by  statutory  changes  during  recent  years.  There  is,  unques- 
tionably, a  higher  regard  for  the  welfare  of  the  men,  and  in  the 
main  it  can  be  said  without  fear  of  successful  contradiction  that  the 
relations  of  employer  and  employe  in  the  mining  industry  were 
never  as  satisfactory  in  the  two  states  referred  to  as  they  are  at  the 


174          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

present  time.  From  manager  to  miner  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  safety-first  movement  are  clearly  recognized,  not  only  as  a 
matter  of  simple  justice  to  mine  employes,  but  also  as  a  matter  of 
sound  business  in  every  sense  of  the  term. 

Mr.  H.  M.  Wilson,  formerly  of  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  in  his  pre- 
ceding address  enlarged  upon  the  insurance  aspects  of  the  mine 
accident  problem,  but  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  available  data 
regarding  insurance  cost  and  insurance  results  can  not  as  yet  be  con- 
sidered conclusive.  The  subject  has  naturally  attracted  considerable 
attention  and  a  diversity  of  opinion  prevails  as  to  the  best  course  to 
be  followed.  Self-insurance  as  practiced  by  a  few  large  mines  is 
obviously  out  of  the  question  for  the  large  majority  of  mine  owners 
and  managers,  who  could  not  possibly  hope  to  provide  in  their  own 
way  for  the  calamity  risk  inherent  in  most  mining  operations.  A 
mine  manager,  however,  who  finds  that  the  annual  premium  which 
he  is  required  to  pay  to  the  state  fund,  or  the  private  casualty  com- 
pany, is  much  in  excess  of  the  actual  cost  of  compensation  pro- 
portionate to  pay-roll  exposure,  must  needs  reflect  upon  the  question 
involved  as  to  whether  the  rates  charged  are  equitable  or  not.  The 
hope  of  an  ultimate  dividend  return  hardly  appeals  to  most  man- 
agers, who  for  the  time  being  are  expected  to  obtain  the  most  satis- 
factory business  results.  The  actual  insurance  experience  in  Nevada 
and  California  is  extremely  suggestive  and  in  itself  indicative  of  a 
material  reduction  in  present-day  mining  hazards,  although  sub- 
sequent experience  may  possibly  warrant  a  modification  of  this  view, 
The  technical  aspects  of  the  problem  are  too  involved  to  permit  of 
an  extended  consideration,  but  it  may  be  said  that  under  normal 
conditions  in  well  managed  mines  the  required  premium  should  not 
exceed  trfree  per  cent  of  the  pay-roll,  and  by  painstaking  attention 
to  details,  and  the  enforcement  of  rigid  discipline  under  ground,  the 
actual  cost  of  compensation  may,  without  much  difficulty,  as  shown 
by  actual  experience  in  the  case  of  several  important  mines  in  Cali- 
fornia and  Nevada,  be  reduced  to  two  per  cent,  and  even  less.  In 
other  words,  in  a  large  measure  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  in- 
surance cost  rests  with  the  mine  management,  but  in  return  it  is 
of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  state  fund,  or  the  insuring  com- 
panies, should  recognize  the  necessity  of  merit  rating,  the  first  prin- 
ciples of  which,  as  applied  to  mining,  have  hardly  as  yet  been  suc- 
cessfully evolved. 

Mr.  Wilson  seems  to  be  of  the  opinion  that  a  standardized  merit 
rating  practice  would  not  be  feasible  for  the  mining  industry,  but 


MINING  HAZARDS  ON  THE  PACIFIC  COAST.  175 

the  recently  published  tentative  mine  safety  rules  of  the  Industrial 
Accident  Commission  of  the  State  of  California,  prepared  in  co- 
operation with  a  committee  of  mining  men,  clearly  indicate  that  a 
consensus  of  qualified  opinion  can  be  had  without  serious  difficulty. 
There  will  also  shortly  be  published  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Mines  a  code  of  rules  and  regulations  for  metal  mines,  prepared  by 
a  committee  consisting  of  Messrs.  W.  R.  Ingalls,  James  Douglas, 
James  R.  Finlay,  J.  Parke  Channing,  and  John  Hays  Hammond, 
which  will  provide  a  thoroughly  considered  basis  for  an  equitable 
and  common  sense  system  of  merit  rating.  In  the  perfection  of  a 
rating  practice  the  numerous  special  investigations  of  the  United 
States  Bureau  of  Mines  into  the  causes  and  connecting  circum- 
stances of  mine  accidents,  and  the  best  practical  methods  and  means 
for  their  prevention,  require,  of  course,  to  be  taken  into  account. 
I  need  only  refer  to  the  circulars  on  accidents  from  falls  of  rock  or 
ore,  accidents  from  mine  cars  and  locomotives,  fires  in  the  Lake 
Superior  iron  mines,  hints  on  coal-mine  ventilation,  and,  finally,  an 
exceedingly  suggestive  primer  on  explosives  for  metal  mines  and 
quarries,  as  a  promising  indication  of  the  ultimate  attainment  of  a 
widely  diffused  practical  understanding  of  fundamental  principles 
of  safety  and  sanitation  in  the  American  mineral  industry.  The 
work  being  done  by  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  and  it  requires  to  be  said, 
in  hearty  co-operation  with  mine  managers,  foremen,  etc.,  challenges 
favorable  comparison  with  any  corresponding  effort  elsewhere 
throughout  the  world. 

I  have  personally  visited  some  twenty  of  the  principal  gold  and 
quicksilver  mines  of  California  and  Nevada.  In  every  case  the 
utmost  freedom  was  extended  to  me  to  make  myself  thoroughly 
familiar  with  underground  conditions  at  their  worst  as  well  as  at 
their  best.  If  much  remains  to  be  done  to  raise  the  standard  of 
safety  and  sanitation  it  is  largely  because  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  the  best  practice  to  follow  are  as  yet  but  ill-defined  or 
imperfectly  understood.  There  is  everywhere  a  demand  for  practical 
and  common  sense,  but  authoritative,  suggestions,  and  with  few 
exceptions  I  met  with  a  sincere  and  general  appreciation  of  the 
great  practical  value  of  the  tentative  mine  safety  rules  recently 
issued  by  the  Industrial  Commission  of  the  State  of  California.  I 
met  with  no  serious  reluctance  to  incur  even  a  considerable  amount 
of  expense,  on  account  of  safety  first  requirements,  but  a  natural 
opposition  to  ill-considered  experiments  involving  both  a  risk  of 
life  and  property  loss.  In  any  event,  the  most  objectionable  features 


476'         PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

underground  have,  in  many  mines,  been  eliminated,  and  there  are 
strong  reasons  for  believing  that  the  future  fatality  and  serious- 
injury  rates  will  be  materially  below  the  average  for  recent  years. 

In  detail,  of  course,  there  are  faults  to  be  found  in  every 
mine,  but  after  all  there  is  so  much  more  that  is  deserving  of 
praise  that  the  shortcomings  are  of  secondary  importance.  The 
most  objectionable  conditions  are  met  with  in  the  smaller  mines, 
where  many  individual  accidents  occur  which  in  the  aggregate  con- 
tribute substantially  towards  the  high  fatality  and  serious  injury 
rates  common  to  the  metal  mines  of  California  and  Nevada.  A 
thorough  analysis  of  the  actual  experience  of  -practically  all  the 
larger  mines  in  California  and  Nevada  proves  conclusively  that  the 
fatality  and  serious  injury  rates  in  these  mines  are  less  than  for  all 
mines  considered  in  the  aggregate.  The  problem  of  underground 
accident  prevention  is,  to  a  considerable  degree,  a  question  of  cost, 
and  the  smaller  and  more  speculative  mines  are  often  not  in  a 
position  to  install  the  required  protective  devices,  which  would  be 
but  a  minor  consideration  to  the  larger  and  more  prosperous  mining 
companies.  The  question  of  effective  inspection  and  state  control  is, 
therefore,  obviously  much  more  a  matter  of  concern  to  the  smaller 
mines  than  to  the  larger  and  better  managed  properties. 

In  my  investigations  I  naturally  gave  attention  only  to  the  essen-, 
tials  of  mine  safety  and  sanitation,  including,  however,  the  occur- 
rence of  occupational  diseases.  It  would  carry  me  too  far  to  discuss 
the  results  in  detail,  and  I  touch  upon  the  same  with  some  reluctance 
in  view  of  the  rather  technical  problems  involved.  Relying,  however, 
in  the  main  upon  the  required  standards  as  laid  down  in  the  tenta- 
tive mine  safety  rules  of  the  Industrial  Accident  Commission  of  the 
State  of  California,  I  found  a  comparatively  high  degree  of  con- 
formity in  all  the  larger  mines  visited  in  California  and  Nevada. 
In  other  words,  the  ideal  aimed  at  in  the  tentative  mine  safety 
rules  is  already  in  a  large  measure  conformed  to  in  most  of  the 
mines  included  within  the  scope  of  my  personal  investigation.  There 
are,  however,  some  very  notable  exceptions,  and  som'e  flagrant  vio- 
lations of  the  first  principles  of  safety  and  sanitation.  It  would  not 
be  appropriate  for  me  to  discuss  mines  in  detail,  hut  I  may  suggest 
that  it  would  serve  a  very  useful  purpose  if  the  results  of  the  special 
inspections  made  by  the  mining  division  of  the  Industrial  Accident 
Commission  should,  in  course  of  time,  be  made  public.  It  is  difficult, 
no  doubt,  to  provide  entirely  safe  and  satisfactory  ladders  and 
ladderways,  but  there  are  no  reasons  why  so  many  bad  ladders,  with 


MINING  HAZARDS  ON  THE  PACIFIC  COAST.  177' 

broken  rungs,  or  worn  out  rungs,  should  be  permitted,  and  why 
safety  platforms  should  not  be  provided  in  exceptional  cases  where 
an  almost  vertical  climb  of  several  hundred  feet  may  be  necessary. 
There  are  some  serious  faults  in  individual  mines  in  the  hoisting 
arrangements,  and  riding  on  the  cages  is  practiced  where  it  is  not 
necessary  and  extremely  reckless.  Some  of  the  cages  are  run  at  a 
speed  inconsistent  with  fundamental  safety  considerations.  Safe- 
guards against  overwinding  are  wanting  in  some  of  the  mines,  and 
probably  in  many  of  the  smaller  mines.  The  electrical  equipment,  in 
some  cases,  is  crude  and  dangerous.  It  would  seem  advisable  to 
go  much  further  in  the  electric  lighting  underground  than  is  actually 
the  case.  Some  of  the  landing  or  station  platforms  in  a  number  of 
deep  mines  are  poorly  lighted  and  badly  guarded  around  the  ore 
chutes,  with  the  practical  certainty  that  sooner  or  later  a  serious 
accident  will  occur.  Candles  are  still  used  in  many  mines  where 
acetylene  lamps  would  be  distinctly  preferable.  The  ventilation  in 
some  mines  leaves  very  much  to  be  desired.  The  sanitary  conditions 
in  others  are  very  primitive  and  unquestionably  directly  con- 
tributory to  the  spread  of  miners'  ankylostomiasis.  Strictly  sanitary 
drinking  water  is  not  provided  in  all  mines,  although  the  means 
or  methods  for  doing  so  have  been  practically  established  in  many 
of  the  best  managed  properties.  While  the  risk  of  personal  con- 
tamination may  be  small,  it  is  a  risk  which  should  not  be  needlessly 
incurred.  The  change  houses  are  often  far  from  being  as  well  taken 
care  of  as  would  be  desirable.  What  can  be  done  in  this  direction 
without  material  expense  has  been  well  brought  out  by  a  number  of 
suggestive  contributions  to  the  mining  periodical  press. 

As  regards  the  transportation,  storage  and  use  of  explosives,  it 
requires  to  be  said  that  there  is  as  yet  no  general  and  consistent  con- 
formity to  the  rules  and  regulations  promulgated  by  the  United 
States  Bureau  of  Mines  and  the  State  Industrial  Accident  Commis- 
sion. There  is  the  usual  indifference  to  risks  common  to  the  mining 
industry,  and  absolute  safety  is  often  a  secondary  consideration. 
There  is  perhaps  no  direction  in  which  effective  state  supervision  is 
likely  to  be  productive  of  better  results  except  that  even  more  is  to 
be  expected  ffom  the  voluntary  enforcement  of  rigid  discipline  on 
the  part  of  the  mining  companies  and  the  miners'  union.  The  neglect 
of  safety  precautions,  according  to  my  own  experience,  in  trans- 
portation, storage  and  firing,  is  common  with  underground  officers 
and  employes.  The  conditions  under  which  mining  must  be  carried 
on,  however,  unquestionably  contribute  substantially  towards  this 


178          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

end.  It  would  not  be  advisable  to  carry  safety  precautions  to  the 
extreme,  but  on  numerous  occasions  I  have  observed  obvious 
neglect  and  indifference  for  which  no  reasonable  excuse  could  be 
advanced. 

Another  common  neglect  underground  is  protruding  nails  and 
spikes.  The  importance  of  small  wounds  is  gradually  being  recog- 
nized even  by  the  most  ignorant  underground  employes.  In  this 
respect  the  tentative  mine  safety  rules  are  inadequate.  It  should 
be  made  the  duty  of  every  underground  foreman  to  see  to  it  that 
all  protruding  nails  are  immediately  hammered  down.  The  danger 
is  quite  considerable  in  dark  stopes,  where  planks  from  scaffolding 
are  left  lying  about,  and  in  my  own  experience  several  serious  acci- 
dents occurred  with  regard  to  which  it  could  only  be  said  that 
the  immediate  cause  was  gross  carelessness.  Furthermore,  as  a 
rule  there  is  not  the  necessary  provision  for  effective  first  aid. 
It  would  seem  reasonable  to  insist  that  every  underground  foreman 
should  be  provided  with  a  small  first-aid  package,  so  as  to  be  able 
to  furnish  immediate  antiseptic  protection  for  small  wounds.  I 
have  seen  wounds  treated  in  the  most  crude  and  reckless  manner, 
with  a  practical  certainty  of  infection.  In  this  respect,  also,  the 
tentative  mine  safety  rules  of  the  Industrial  Accident  Commission 
could  be  improved. 

I  can  not  go  much  further  into  the  details  of  conditions  which- 
are  suggestive  of  the  direction  in  which  a  required  improvement  can 
be  realized  without  much  difficulty.  As  I  said  before,  there  is  so  much 
that  is  commendable  that  the  shortcomings  are  of  secondary  impor- 
tance. One  important  aspect  of  the  mining  industry  is  the  satis- 
factory housing  of  mine  employes.  The  conditions  in  .California 
in  this  respect  are  distinctly  above  the  average  and  in  marked  con- 
trast to  the  mining,  camps  of  Nevada.  Attention  may  be  directed 
to  the  admirable  treatise  on  houses  in  mining  towns,  by  John  H. 
White,  published  last  year  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines. 
The  principles  of  housing  and  community  life  laid  down  in  this 
outline  are,  in  the  main,  conformed  to  in  the  mining  communities 
of  California,  and  particularly  so  in  the  Grass  Valley.  I  recall 
nowhere  a  more  beautiful  section  where  the  problem  of  housing,  in 
the  sense  of  a  genuine  community  life,  seems  to  have  been  solved  in 
a  more  satisfactory  manner.  All  modern  welfare  work  includes  the 
three  factors  of  safety,  sanitation,  and  comfort.  In  the  ultimate 
solution  of  the  labor  problem  the  attainment  of  satisfactory  housing 
and  home  conditions  will  be  found  of  the  first  order  of  importance. 


MINING  HAZARDS  ON  THE  PACIFIC  COAST.  179 

The  conditions  at  Grass  Valley  and  Nevada  City  in  this  respect  are 
almost  ideal,  in  contrast  to  the  deplorable  indifference  and  neglect 
in  housing  and  home  life  in  the  Pennsylvania  coal-mining  districts, 
and  of  course  in  many  other  mining  sections  of  the  country.  The 
conditions  at  Grass  Valley  and  Nevada  City  challenge  favorable 
comparison  with  any  other  mining  community  in  the  world.  These 
two  localities  prove  that  the  social  and  economic  level  of  the  mining 
industry  can  be  raised  to  that  of  a  thoroughly  well  ordered  com- 
munity, with  a  due  regard  to  all  the  essentials  of  a  wholesome 
and  progressive  community  life.  On  the  Mother  Lode  the  condi- 
tions are  not  so  satisfactory.  The  underground  conditions  are  more 
serious,  and  the  existence  of  miners'  ankylostomiasis  is  a  menace  to 
the  miner  and  his  family  which  urgently  demands  the  more  qualified 
consideration  of  the  Federal  Government,  the  State  Board  of  Health, 
the  State  Industrial  Accident  Commission^  and  the  medical  profes- 
sion. Miners'  ankylostomiasis,  apparently,  has  gained  considerable 
headway  in  the  deep  and  moist  ccal  mines  of  the  Mother  Lode,  The 
work  by  Dr.  Gunn,  of  San  Francisco,  and  his  associates,  is  deserving 
of  sincere  appreciation,  for,  after  all,  the  recognition  of  an  evil  in  its 
incipiency  is  infinitely  more  valuable  than  the  ultimate  cure  of  a 
disease  after  many  serious  losses  have  been  sustained.  I  entirely 
agree  with  Dr.  Gunn,  that  the  local  situation  calls  for  further  con- 
sideration, and  it  is  sincerely  to  be  hoped  that,  in  co-operation  with 
the  State  Board  of  Health,  and  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines, 
as  well,  as  the  State  Industrial  Accident  Commission,  an  early  and 
exhaustive  investigation  will  be  made. 

The  problem  of  miners'  phthisis  is  still  more  serious.  The  prec- 
edent set  by  the  Transvaal  Chamber  of  Mines  in  calling  upon  Dr. 
William  C.  Gorgas,  the  former  chief  sanitary  officer  of  the  Isthmian 
Canal  Commission,  and  now  the  surgeon-general  of  the  United 
States  Army,  to  investigate  the  local  situation  on  the  Rand,  indi- 
cates the  direction  which  a  corresponding  investigation  should  take 
in  this  country.  The  lamentable  conditions  disclosed  in  the  Joplin 
mining  district  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines  indicate  that 
the  problem  can  not  be  solved  by  superficial  considerations.  The 
report  of  the  Miners'  Phthisis  and  Pulmonary  Tuberculosis  Com- 
mission, of  the  Union  of  South  Africa,  published  in  1912,  contains 
a  well  defined  outline  of  the  direction  which  a  thorough  investigation 
should  take  to  disclose  the  existing  evil  to  its  fullest  extent.  The 
annual  statistics  of  the  California  State  Board  of  Health  sub- 
stantiate the  conclusion  that  there  is  much  more  miners'  phthisis  in 


180          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

California  than  is  generally  assumed  to  be  the  case.  There  are 
reasons  for  believing  that  in  some  sections  of  Nevada  the  condi- 
tions are  even  worse.  Now  that  workmen's  compensation  is  made 
to  include  occupational  diseases,  there  are  the  most  urgent  reasons 
why  this  question  should  receive  adequate  but  strictly  scientific 
consideration.  My  own  investigations,  including  interviews  with 
individual  miners,  medical  practitioners  in  the  mining  region,  and 
mine  managers  of  long  experience,  substantiate  the  conclusion  that 
miners'  phthisis  in  certain  deep  mines  of  California  and  Nevada  is  a 
practical  question  which  urgently  demands  consideration.  It  requires 
to  be  said,  however,  that  something  is  being  done  to  check  the  fre- 
quency of  the  disease,  and  it  is  gratifying  to  find  that  there  is  now 
less  reluctance  on  the  part  of  the  men  to  spray  the  stopes,  and  even 
to  use  respirators  in  particularly  dusty  raises,  than  formerly.  In  this 
connection  I  may  also  refer  to  the  increasing  practice  of  medical 
examinations  of  mine  employes  as  a  condition  precedent  to  employ- 
ment. In  the  case  of  one  large  mine  in  Nevada  one  thousand  men 
were  examined  thoroughly,  with  the  inclusion  of  the  Wassermann 
test,  for  venereal  infection,  without  any  serious  difficulty  whatever. 
An  even  more  thorough  investigation  was  made  in  South  Africa, 
where  a  much  larger  number  of  miners  were  examined,  with  the 
result  that  quite  a  number  of  incipient  cases  of  miners'  phthisis 
were  ascertained  in  time  for  suitable  sanatoria  treatment.  It  is 
sincerely  to  be  hoped  that  this  practice  will  be  further  perfected  and 
made  much  more  general,  and  that  the  hearty  co-operation  of  the 
miners  will  be  enlisted  in  an  effort  primarily  designed  for  their  own 
protection. 

In  the  case  of  quicksilver  mining,  it  appears  that  conditions  have 
very  much  improved.  With  the  abandonment  of  the  mines  in  which 
the  metal  occurred  in  its  native  state,  the  incidence  of  mercurial  poi- 
soning in  mining  has  practically  been  eliminated.  In  the  various 
reduction  processes,  however,  cases  still  occur,  and  the  question 
remains  one  of  much  scientific  interest.  As  a  matter  of  practical 
experience,  however,  it  may  be  said  that  serious  cases  of  mercurial 
poisoning  in  cinnabar  reduction  plants  are  relatively  rare,  but  there 
are  reasons  for  believing  that  the  application  of  the  workmen's  com- 
pensation act  to  cases  of  this. kind  will  bring  forward  evidence  that 
neglected  treatment  is  likely  to  result  disastrously  in  the  case  of 
the  more  ignorant  labor  class  from  Mexico  and  elsewhere.  It  may 
be  pointed  out  in  this  connection  that  experience  seems  to  show  a 
rather  close  relation  between  habits  of  gross  intoxication  and  in- 


MINING  HAZARDS  O'N  THE  PACIFIC  COAST.  181 

creased  liability  to  mercurial  poisoning,  and  that  with  the  passing 
of  the  former  evil  the  incidence  of  the  disease  has  diminished  pro- 
portionately in  frequency.  Furthermore,  it  may  be  said  that  the 
employment  of  more  qualified  physicians  at  the  quicksilver  mines 
has  provided  the  means  for  the  effective  treatment  of  light  cases 
of  salivation,  so  that  the  more  serious  forms  of  mercurial  poison- 
ing are  now  quite  rare. 

Cyanide  poisoning  in  a  fatal  form  is  practically  unknown,  re- 
gardless of  the  large  increase  in  cyanide  practice  throughout  the 
mining  districts.  At  most  of  the  plants  rules  are  posted  regarding 
first  aid  in  the  case  of  cyanide  poisoning,  but  it  would  seem  impor- 
tant that  these  rules  should  be  revised  and  made  more  immediately 
applicable  to  cases  of  exceptional  emergency.  The  rules  now  posted 
are  those  gratuitously  provided  by  a  manufacturing  concern  of  Den- 
ver, derived  from  foreign  sources.  The  first-aid  outfit  of  cyanide 
antidotes  is  in  many  cases  old  and  "neglected,  and  in  some  cases  not 
as  conveniently  available  as  would  be  desirable.  It  would,  further- 
more, seem  of  some  importance  that  someone  should  be  thoroughly 
well  instructed  in  the  required  treatment  in  the  absence  of  a  qualified 
physician.  The  cases  that  occur  are  so  rare  that  it  is  obviously  a 
rather  difficult  matter  to  keep  the  subject  in  mind,  and  to  have  some- 
one familiar  with  the  method  of  administering  the  antidote,  but 
under  given  conditions  neglect  in  this  respect  may  involve  loss  of 
life,  or  in  any  event  prevent  serious  bodily  injury.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Mines  and  the  State  Industrial 
Accident  Commission  will  give  this  matter  practical  consideration. 

It  has  not  been  possible  for  me  to  examine  carefully  into  the 
labor  conditions  of  the  smelting  industries,  but  such  evidence  as  I 
have  been  able  to  obtain  indicates  that  a  large  amount  of  preventive 
work  has  been  done  and  that  there  has  been  a  material  reduction  in 
the  incidence  of  lead-poisoning.  The  forthcoming  elaborate  report 
of  the  Selby  Smelter  Commission  will  provide  a  thoroughly  well 
considered  basis  of  fact  and  opinion  concerning  the  health-injurious 
aspects  of  smelter-smoke  and  smelter-fume  exposure  in  the  further- 
ance of  corresponding  investigations  made  in  Montana.  My  own 
observations  and  conclusions  are  quite  favorable,  and  I  am  not  aware 
of  any  facts  tending  to  prove  that,  aside  from  the  general  risk  of 
lead-poisoning  where  safety  precautions  are  neglected,  and  the  occa- 
sional risk  of  arsenical  poisoning  where  there  is  undue  and  reckless 
exposure,  employment  at  smelting  plants  is  seriously,  if  at  all,  injuri- 
ous to  general  health.  This  conclusion  applies  specifically  to  the 


182          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

almost  universal  but  slight  exposure  to  sulphur  dioxide.  Progress 
has  been  made  in  the  gradual  elimination  of  cases  of  lead-poisoning 
in  lead  refineries,  and  reference  may  here  be  made  to  the  very  useful 
and  practically  conclusive  investigations  made  under  the  direction 
of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor,  by  Dr.  Alice  Hamilton  and  others. 
In  this  respect,  also,  the  evidence  is  quite  convincing  that  the  inci- 
dence of  lead-poisoning  and  other  forms  of  industrial  poisoning  is,  to 
a*  marked  degree,  influenced  by  habits  of  gross  intoxication,  and 
that  the  individual  liability  of  idiosyncrasy  is,  in  a  measure,  a  ques- 
tion of  habits,  also  otherwise  detrimental  to  physical  efficiency. 

The  foregoing  observations  quite  inadequately  reflect  the  results 
of  a  rather  arduous  and  exacting  inquiry  made  only  for  insurance 
purposes  and  which,  however  extensive,  fall  far  short  of  the  re- 
quired degree  of  finality  and  completeness  from  the  practical  mining 
point  of  view.  The  investigation  was  primarily  made  for  the  pur: 
pose  of  determining  underground  conditions,  with  reference  to  the 
risk  of  exposure  on  the  part  of  mine  employes,  and  in  the  main 
the  conclusions  are  to  the  effect  that  these  conditions  have,  within 
recent  years,  undergone  a  material  improvement,  and  that  the  lia- 
bility to  fatal  and  serious  accidents  has  diminished,  and  may  be 
expected  to  further  diminish  in  the  near  future.  The  progress  which 
has  been  made  reflects  in  an  admirable  manner  the  efficiency  and 
humanity  of  mine  management  in  California  and  Nevada,  but  the 
conclusions  apply  chiefly  to  the  larger  mines,  which,  for  obvious 
reasons,  alone  have  been  included  within  the  scope  of  my  own 
investigation. 


The  Future  of  the  American  Zinc  Industry. 

BY  OTTO   RUHL, 
JOPLIN,    MO. 


Eighteen  months  ago  many  of  those  engaged  in  the  zinc  indus- 
try would  have  said  there  was  not  very  much  of  a  future  for  the 
industry.  The  general  stagnation  of  the  business  of  the  country, 
especially  in  steel  and  iron,  had  been  piling  up  a  huge  surplus  of 
metal  at  the  smelters  and  the- miners  had  curtailed  output  and  piled 
up  a  surplus  of  zinc  concentrates  that  could  not  be  marketed  profit- 
ably. A  revision  of  the  tariff  had  been  made  which  took  away  the 
protection  that  had  been  afforded  the  American  niiny,  save  a  mere 
nominal  10  per  cent  ad  valorem  tax.  The  smeltermen  had  their 
protection  cut  in  half.  The  whole  industry  was  in  the  dumps  and 
anyone  who  would  have  predicted  anything  of  a  promising  nature 
for  the  immediate  future  would  have  been  promptly  discounte- 
nanced. 

No  one  expected  a  higher  market  level  for  spelter  than  five 
cents,  while  many  predicted  four  cents.  When  the  price  of  Joplin 
zinc  concentrates  fell  below  $40  per  ton,  it  passed  below  the  genera! 
average  cost  of  production  and  was  naturally  followed  by  the  usual 
result.  The  Joplin  district  with  hundreds  of  mines  saw  them  shut 
down  by  the  dozen  at  a  time.  The  western  States'  zinc  mines  were 
also  in  the  same  position  in  many  cases  and  they,  too,  either  cur- 
tailed output  or  stopped  production.  Yet  out  of  these  conditions 
came  sudden  prosperity  and  such  prosperity  as  had  never  been 
anticipated  in  the  dreams  of  the  most  optimistic. 

Unfortunate  from  a  purely  humane  standpoint,  but  certainly 
providential  to  the  American  zinc  miner,  has  been  the  continuance 
of  the  revolution  in  Mexico.  Had  Mexico  become  tranquilized, 
Mexican  zinc  ores  would  have  displayed  60,000  to  100,000  tons  of 
American  zinc  ores  following  the  heavy  reduction  in  the  tariff  made 
in  the  Underwood  Tariff  Bill.  But  instead,  the  revolution  has  acted 
practically  as  a  prohibitive  tariff  and  American  zinc  miners  have 
been  spared  that  competition. 

Then  came  the  upsetting  of  the  world  finances  and  trade  con- 
ditions from  the  European  war,  and  out  of  that  terrible  conflict  has 
corne  the  greatest  prosperity  in  the  history  of  the  zinc  industry. 


184          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

t 

With  Beligum  overrun  by  the  Germans,  the  only  source  of  supply 
for  this  necessary  metal  in  munition  manufacture  for  the  Allies 
was  the  United  States,  and  on  account  of  their  demand  for  high- 
grade  spelter,  prices  for  zinc  advanced  rapidly  to  undreamed-of 
heights.  It  is  difficult  to  believe  that  ordinary  spelter  could  go  from 
five  cents  to  28  cents  and  fancy  grades  even  up  to  44  cents  per 
pound,  but  these  things  have  happened,  and  have  been  prevailing 
for  the  past  year.  It  is  in  view  of  these  new  conditions  that  have 
arisen  and  of  the  modification  of  old  settled  conditions  that  a  look 
into  the  immediate  and  more  remote  future  may  prove  interesting  if 
not  profitable  to  the  zinc  industry. 

Perhaps  a  few  of  these  changes,  many  of  which  this  assembly 
already  has  knowledge,  may  be  hurriedly  sketched  in  a  systematic 
way  to  form  the  warp  for  the  texture  of  this  discussion.  These 
changes  may  be  sketched  to  best  advantage  under  three  heads,  viz., 
Mining,  SmeltiWg  and  Trade  Conditions. 

The  effect  of  these  changes  on  the  Joplin  mining  district,  the 
largest  single  producer  of  zinc  ores  in  the  United  States  and  the 
largest  producer  of  high-grade  concentrate  in  the  world,  forms  an 
interesting  chapter  in  current  history.  The  demand  for  spelter  of 
the  grade  necessary  for  making  brass  for  munitions  naturally  fell 
to  those  concerns  whose  product  came  principally  from  the  smelting 
of  high-grade  zinc  concentrate.  The  effect  of  this  demand  was  felt 
on  the  Joplin  market  immediately  after  the  declaration  of  war  and 
the  overrunning  of  Belgium  by  the  Germans.  England  needed 
spelter,  and,  finding  it  impossible  to  obtain  it  from  former  sources, 
turned  to  the  United  ,States.  Prices  for  concentrate  jumped  from 
$38  and  $40  to  $50' per  ton  in  Joplin;  and  thus  began  one  of  the 
greatest  eras  of  production  the  Joplin  district  has  ever  known. 

Following  the  long  period  of  low  prices  in  1913  and  in  the  first 
half  of  1914,  there  had  accumulated  in  the  bins  of  Joplin  producers 
surplus  stocks  amounting  to  12,000  to  18,000  tons  of  concentrate. 
Simultaneously  the  rate  of  production  had  fallen  to  approximately 
5,000  tons  per  week,  the  major  portion  of  which  was  coming  from 
the  smaller  mines  and  richer  ore  deposits,  from  which  profits  could 
still  be  obtained,  even  in  the  face  of  low  prices.  The  large  "sheet- 
ground"  areas  were  full  of  idle  mines  and  mills ;  and  these  were 
the  properties,  too,  from  which  come  the  large  weekly  outputs.  An- 
other singular  condition  was  the  fact  that  in  the  thin  sheet-ground 
areas  there  were  still  standing  some  of  the  mills  that 'had 'become 
monuments  to  the  failure  of  concerns  that  had  attempted  to  work 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ZINC  INDUSTRY.     185 

ground  containing  less  than  2  per  cent  zinc.  On  a  $40  market  they 
were  colossal  failures ;  with  a  $75  market  they  offered  opportunities 
for  quick  and  large  profits,  because  the  development  work  was  all 
done  underground  and  the  only  expense  was  the  repair  to  the  plants 
before  production  at  capacity  was  possible.  As  the  zinc  smelters 
turned  to  the  Joplin  district  for  their  needed  supplies  of  high-grade 
concentrate,  they  found  there  large  surplus  stocks  to  draw  upon,  a 
steady  weekly  output  of  5,000  tons,  and,  with  an  increased  price,  a 
potential  output  of  1,200  to  2,500  tons  weekly. 

The  rapid  increase  in  demand  for  "brass-special  spelter"  soon 
used  stocks  of  high-grade  concentrate  held  by  most  of  the  smelting 
concerns,  and  caused  those  whose  products  had  been  confined  to 
ordinary  grades  from  mixed  and  low-grade  concentrate  to  change 
their  practice  to  turning  out  a  better  quality  of  spelter.  Some 
smelters  that  had  been  taking  large  tonnages  of  low-grade  concen- 
trate restricted  their  contracts  to  the  minimum,  accumulated  product 
in  stock-piles,  and  began  the  purchase  of  high-grade  concentrate  and 
the  manufacture  of  spelter  suitable  for  brassmaking.  This  action 
again  was  reflected  in.  the  Joplin  district  by  an  increased  demand, 
and  prices  began  to  soar  above  the  $100  level. 

In  addition  to  the  desire  for  concentrate  of  high  grade  for  mak- 
ing a  good  brand  of  spelter,  the  desire  for  maximum  capacity  on  the 
part  of  the  smelters  led  to  the  increased  demand  for  Joplin  60  per 
cent  zinc  concentrate.  A  zinc  silicate  or  carbonate  product  must 
carry  40  per  cent  to  be  acceptable,  while  a  sulphide  carrying  less 
than  50  per  cent  is  not  being  sought.  Thus  while,  many  western 
mines  capable  of  producing  a  large  tonnage  of  40  to  50  per  cent  zinc 
concentrate  were  finding  that  they  could  not  market  their  product, 
the  demand  upon  the  Joplin  district  was  constantly  increasing. 

Responding  to  this  demand,  the  Joplin  district  during  the  first 
six  months  of  1915  has  shown  a  weekly  production  of  6,230  tons 
of  zinc  concentrate,  equivalent  to  325,000  tons  annually.  Of  this, 
nine-tenths  is  sulphide  that  will  average  57  per  cent  zinc,  and  the 
remainder  calamine  that  will  average  40  per  cent.  This  shows  an 
increase  of  approximately  20  per  cent  in  output  for  the  half  year. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  momentum  of  increased  activity  due  to 
increased  demand  and  prices  is  just  now  at  the  point  where  it  is 
being  most  felt,  and  the  results  are  certain  to  be  made  more  manifest 
in  the  second  half  of  the  year. 

Practically  all  the  mines  in  the  "sheet-ground"  that  are  nor- 
mally classed  as  going  concerns  at  normal  prices  of  $40  to  $45  for 


186          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

concentrate  are  now  working  at  full  capacity.  Every  "soft-ground" 
property  capable  of  production  at  normal  prices  is  also  working  at 
full  capacity.  When  it  became  certain  that  the  period  of  high  prices 
had  come  to  stay  for  the  period  at  least  of  the  war,  those  "sheet- 
ground"  mines,  previously  mentioned  as  "colossal  failures,"  but  now 
potential  profit  makers,  received  attention.  They  are  beginning  to 
show  in  the  production  columns  and  before  the  year-  ends  there  will 
be  a  much  larger  list  of  active  properties  of  this  class.  Their  life, 
of  course,  will  be  confined  to  the  period  of  high  prices. 

The  early  demands  for  ore  naturally  fell  to  the  Joplin  district, 
and  other  districts  suffered  neglect  except  where  ores  were  con- 
tracted. The  operating  mines  of  Idaho,  Montana  and  Colorado 
pressed  their  outputs  to  the  maximum,  but  the  restrictions  on  low- 
grade  ore  purchases  were  so  severe  as  to  discourage  idle  western 
mines  from  reopening  where  they  were  not  able  to  produce  at  least 
a  50  per  cent  zinc  concentrate.  Wisconsin,  with  its  concentrates 
carrying  heavy  iron  pyrites,  sent  its  products  to  magnetic  separating 
plants  ,to  eliminate  the  iron  and  raise  the  zinc  content,  and  this 
tendency  has  caused  the  erection  of  a  number  of  such  plants  and 
increased  the  capacity  of  the  old  ones  in  that  field  and  has  perma- 
nently placed  it  in  the  class  of  high-grade  camps.  But  throughout 
the  country  the  interest  in  zinc  mining  is  intense  and  there  is  under 
way  a  potential  production  of  zinc  ore  that  promises  surprising 
tonnages  before  many  months. 

Smelting  Conditions. 

Zinc  smelting  showed  just  as  much  activity  as  mining.  Idle 
and  abandoned  smelters  have  taken  on  a  new  lease  of  life  under 
the  stimulus  of  ten  to  twenty-five  cent  spelter  and  every  statistician 
in  the  country  has  been  going  round  in  circles  trying  to  revise  his 
tables  of  smelting  capacity  to  fit  the  daily  advices  of  reopened  plants, 
new  additions  and  announcements  of  entirely  new  plants.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Press  Bulletin  of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey 
issued  September  9,  Mr.  C.  E.  Siebenthal  estimates  the  zinc  retorts 
in  commission  at  130,642  on  June  30,  as  contrasted  with  113,914  on 
December  31,  1914,  or  an  actual  increase  of  15  per  cent.  From 
the  production  tables,  however,  it  appears  the  output  of  spelter 
for  the  first  six  months  of  1915  was  216,532  tons,  as  compared  with 
177,991  tons  the  previous  six  months,  an  increase  of  21  per  cent 
in  the  metal.  Mr.  Siebenthal  also  reports  under  construction  or 
planned  for  early  construction  34,048  additional  retorts.  This  means 
an  increase  of  retort  capacity  of  practically  50  per  cent  by  the  end  of 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ZINC  INDUSTRY.     187 

1915.  Of  this  large  increase  in  the  retort  capacity,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  a  very  large  part  of  it  lies  in  the  old  Kansas  gas 
belt  and  the  Kansas  coal  belt  in  the  rehabilitation  of  plants  long  idle 
and  antiquated  and  whose  cost  of  production  means  the  closing  down 
of  the  plants  so  soon  as  spelter  assumes  anything  like  the  level  that 
prevailed  eighteen  months  ago.  It  represents  emergency  capacity 
and  when  spelter  again  reaches  seven  cents  or  under,  that  capacity 
will  drop  out  of.  commission.  The  remainder  of  the  new  capacity 
consists  of  additions  and  new  plant  construction  in  permanent  smelt- 
ing centers  and  will  have  to  be  reckoned  with  in  any  price  conditions 
that  may  prevail  for  the  metal  in  the  future. 

Trade  Movements  of  Zinc. 

A  few  words  about  the  trade  movements  of  zinc  and  the  data 
available  as  to  consumption  of  the  metal  and  the  three  factors  of 
the  industry  for  weighing  in  the  future  will  have  been  set  forth.  The 
apparent  domestic  consumption  of  zinc  was  160,906  tons  for  the 
first  six  months  of  1915,  or  11,000  tons  greater  than  the  previous 
six  months.  Our  exports,  -both  domestic  and  foreign,  totaled  70,326 
tons,  as  against  72,496  tons  the  previous  six  months.  It  would 
appear  from  recent  figures  that  the  exports  of  zinc  as  metal  are 
growing  smaller  from  month  to  month,  \vhile  goods  manufactured 
from  zinc,  brass,  etc.,  are  increasing.  In  view  of  the  generally 
known  conditions  of  the  world's  business  at  this  time,  it  would 
seem  fair  to  predict  that  the  consumption  of  zinc  for  the  last  six 
months  of  1915  both  for  domestic  use  and  for  export  will  equal  but 
not  greatly  exceed  the  first  six  months  of  the  year.  That  will  mean 
a  total  consumption  of  465,000  tons  of  spelter  that  will  have  to 
come  from  smelting  zinc  ores.  This  leaves  out  of  consideration  the 
production  and  consumption  of  secondary  spelter  coming  from  the 
treatment  of  drosses,  skimmings,  old  zinc,  etc.,  which  usually 
amounts  to  50,000  tons,  and  will  probably  this  year  be  augmented 
to  60,000  to  65,000  tons. 

With  these  basic  facts  laid  out,  we  may  examine  the  relation- 
ship of  the  various  factors  which  will  determine  the  future.  An 
examination  of  the  proposed  consumption  of  zinc  in  relation  to  the 
possible  capacity  of-  the  smelters  to  supply  it  will  be  undertaken 
first.  As  noted,  the  first  half  year  of  1915  yielded  216,532  tons  of 
spelter  from  130,642  retorts,  or  at  the  rate  of  3.2  tons  per  annum 
per  retort.  These  same  retorts  will  be  in  commission  the  remainder 
of  the  year  and  by  the  end  of  the  year  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey  estimates  34,048  more  retorts  will  have  been  added  to  them. 


188          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

It  is  very  doubtful  if  these  will  be  added  early  enough  to  make 
more  than  50  per  cent  of  their  scheduled  capacity  for  the  period. 
But  granting  that  they  do  operate  to  capacity  for  50  per  cent  of 
the  period  and  at  the  rate  of  3.2  tons  of  spelter  per  year,  we  should 
have  an  increase  of  27,200  tons  of  metal,  which,  added  to  the  remain- 
ing output,  makes  a  total  smelter  output  of  460,265  tons,  or  within 
5,000  tons  of  the  estimated  total  consumption  for  the  year.  This  is 
more  than  made  up  by  the  amount  of  spelter  stocks"  reported  at  the 
end  of  June. 

According  to  Mr.  Siebenthal's  estimate  in  the  United  States 
Geological  Survey's  Press  Bulletin  of  September  9,  it  is  not  likely 
that  the  retorts  actually  in  commission  turn  out  much  more  than 
3.5  tons  of  spelter  per  annum  at  the  present  time.  That  conviction 
is  based  upon  investigations  of  the  Survey  in  1908  and  upon  observa- 
tions and  deductions  from  known  changes  in  the  condition  of  ore 
supplies  and  the  spelter  content  in  more  recent  years.  This  estimate 
is  strongly  upheld  by  the  results  shown  in  the  first  half  of  1915. 
The  rate  of  production  shows.an  average  r.ate  of  3.2  tons  per  annum 
or  retort.  It  should  be  recalled  to  mind  that  this  period  has  been 
one  in  which  smeltermen  have  crowded  the  capacity  to  the  very 
maximum,  due  to  the  desire  to  take  advantage  of  the  high  price  of 
metal.  The  restrictions  in  buying  ores  so  that  no  sulphides  under 
50  per  cent  were  taken  shows  how  the  policy  was  kept  up.  These 
restrictions  have  been  just  as  rigidly  enforced  as  conditions  of  pre- 
vious contracts  would  permit.  This  being  true  and  with  smelters 
buying  high-grade  Joplin  and  Wisconsin  ores  and  combing  the 
country  for  this  class  of  ores  exclusively,  the  first  half  of  the  year 
must  have  seen  the  very  maximum  of  retort  capacity  obtainable. 
There  is  little  possibility  of  any  further  increase  in  retort  capacity 
because  the  ore  supplies  to  be  drawn  upon,  either  domestic  or  for- 
eign, will  not  be  so  high  grade  nor  contain  so  large  a  percentage  of 
zinc  as  have  the  ores  of  the  last  half  year.  The  tendency  for  capac- 
ity should  therefore  be  downward. 

Another  factor  that  will  act  in  the  direction  of  a  lower  average 
output  per  retort  is  the  larger  relative  proportion  of  higher  grade 
spelter  demanded  at  this  time  as  compared  with  previous  years.  The 
increase  in  the  demand  for  brass  special  spelter  has  been  unusual, 
while  galvanizing,  which  has  hitherto  taken  the  greater  proportion 
of  spelter  and  was  content  with  ordinary  grades,  has  had  a  direct 
falling  off.  It  is  very  probable  therefore  that  a  considerably  larger 
number  of  retorts  will  be  engaged  in  retreating  prime  western 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ZINC  INDUSTRY.     189 

grades  to  bring  up  -to  the  brass  special  grade  than  has  ever  prevailed 
before. 

It  would  seem  in  the  light  of  these  conditions  that  there  has 
been  a  somewhat  exaggerated  idea  of  the  possible  increase  in  spelter 
output.  If  anything  may  be  inferred  from  these  facts  it  seems  cer- 
tain that  in  spite  of  the  almost  miraculous  increase  in  retort  capacity 
during  the  year,  it  will  not  more  than  suffice  the  probable  consump- 
tion for  the  year. 

Just  here  it  may  be  pertinent  to  inquire  how  long  we  may 
expect  the  present  demand  for  spelter  to  keep  up.  We  may  safely 
believe  that  there  will  be  no  diminishing  of  the  demand  for  zinc  nor 
much  change  in  the  character  of  the  demand  during  the  period  of 
the  war.  What  that  period  will  be,  no  one  knows.  What  will  hap- 
pen to  our  industry  after  the  war  depends  upon  three  things:  the 
condition  of  the  smelters  and  the  number  of  skilled  smelting  work- 
men left  alive  in  Belgium  and  Silesia;  the  ability  of  the  European 
peoples  to  begin  new  construction  work  and  to  pay  for  the  mate- 
rial ;  and  the  ability  of  the  American  zinc  industry  to  hold  the  for- 
eign trade  formerly  held  by  Belgium,  Germany  and  Great  Britain. 
None  of  these  factors  can  be  determined  at  this  time,  but  it  is 
certain  that  Americans  that  have  built  up  a  $100,000,000  zinc  export 
trade  will  fight  hard  to  retain  it  and  will  certainly  hold  a  very  large 
proportion  of  it  for  many  years. 

Domestic  Ore  Supply  and  Consumption.. 

The  relation  of  domestic  ore  supply  and  the  consumption  of 
zinc  is  succinctly  set  forth  by  Mr.  Siebenthal  in  the  spelter  bulletin 
of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey  issued  March  25,  1915.  He 
says: 

"The  average  yearly  increase  in  recoverable  zinc  content  of 
domestic  ore  for  the  period  1907-1913,  inclusive,  is  26,405  tons. 
No  figures  are  available  for  the  zinc  content  of  ores  mined  in  1914. 
Adding  the  average  yearly  increase  for  two  years  to  the  output  of 
1913,  we  get  471,192  tons  as  a  normal  estimate  of  the  output  of 
domestic  mines  for  1915.  Adding  10,000  tons  as  probable  imports 
in  ore,  and  subtracting  70,000  tons  as  probable  zinc  content  of  pig- 
ments, we  get  411,000  tons  as  the  probable  zinc  in  ore  available  for 
spelter  in  1915.  To  this  should  be  added  the  20,000  tons  of  spelter 
stocks  on  hand  at  the  beginning  of  1915,  making  433,000  tons 
available.  It  will  be  observed  from  the  table  above  that  the  total 
recoverable  zinc  available  for  spelter  for  1907-1913  was  about  66,000 
tons,  in  excess  of  the  actual  production  of  spelter  for  the  same 


190          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

period.  This  is  to  be  accounted  for  as  increased  ore  stocks  at  the 
large  new  smelters,  oxide  plants,  and  separation  plants  which  have 
been  built  since  1907,  and  is  in  large  part  available  for  immediate 
consumption.  Adding  this  to  the  433,000  tons,  w£  should  have 
roughly  500,000  tons  supply  available  for  treatment  in  1915.  To 
this  there  is  to  be  further  added  the  production  of  secondary  spelter, 
which  reached  52,251  tons  in  1912,  and  could  no  doubt  be  expanded 
to  60,000  tens  or  more  if  the  occasion  arises.  •  So  that  if  the  United 
States  is  called  upon  in  1915  for  the  possible  supply  of  594,000  or 
even  600,000  tons  of  spelter,  the  zinc  will  be  probably  at  hand  with- 
out increasing  the  mine  production  above  the  normal,  to  furnish 
nearly  560,000  tons  of  it.  The  remainder  would  easily  be  supplied 
by  increased  production  from  Montana,  Idaho,  Colorado,  New  Jer- 
sey, Tennessee  and  other  States,  under  the  stimulus  of  high  prices. 
In  the  Joplin  district  alone  much  lean  sheet-ground  territory  not 
recently  operated  would  become  productive  under  continued  high 
prices,  to  say  nothing  of  increased  production  from  operating  and 
new  mines." 

Since  this  was  written  two-thirds  of  the  year  has  passed  and  it 
is  now  evident  that  the  demand  for  spelter  from  ore  as  already 
pointed  out  will  not  exceed  465,000  tons. 

In  this  connection  it  should  be  recalled  that  in  the  early  sketch- 
ing of  mining  conditions  it  was  pointed  out  that  western  zinc  ore 
producers  had  found  difficulty  in  marketing  their  ere,  and  it  is  still 
difficult  to  do  so  for  some  grades.  So  what  stands  out  beyond  any 
question  is  the  ample  supply  of  domestic  zinc  ores  to  meet  the 
possible  or  probable  consumption  for  1915  or  for  some  time  to 
come. 

But  while  the  world  is  buying  spelter  and  zinc  manufactures  in 
huge  quantities  from  America  and  our  zinc  smelters  have  no  com- 
petition for  their  product  whatever,  our  American  zinc  ore  producers 
have  no  such  sinecure.  Australia  with  its  European  market  gone 
stands  ready  to  ship  to  this  country  300,000  tons  of  zinc  concentrates 
per  year.  The  imports  from  Australia  received  and  contracted  for 
already  total  78,000  tons.  Only  last  month  I  was  importuned  to 
assist  in  the  marketing  of  25',ooo  tons  of  Spanish  zinc  ores  here 
per  year.  Mexico  has  already  shipped  in  27,000  tons  and  with  peace- 
ful conditions  is  ready  to  ship  from  75;ooo  to  125,000  tons  per 
annum.  Canada  is  shipping  to  us  so  long  as  spelter  is  high. 

How  great  is  the  interest  in  importations  of  zinc  ores  by 
American  zinc  smelters  is  shown  by  the  number  of  smelting  concerns 


THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  AMERICAN  ZINC  INDUSTRY.     191 

which  recently  jointly  met  with  the  Treasury  Department  in  asking 
a  certain  set  of  standard  specifications  be  adopted  upon  valuing  zinc 
ores  imported  int^o  the  United  States.  These  smelters  represented  a 
very  large  percentage  of  the  smelting  capacity  of  this  country.  It  thus 
becomes  immediately  evident  why  the  price  of  zinc  ores,  and  espe- 
cially low-grade  zinc  ores,  are  not  on  a  parity  with  spelter  prices, 
and  why  some  of  our  western  zinc  ore  producers  have  not  been  able 
to  even  find  a  market  for  their  product.  That  the  United  States 
is  facing  a  period  of  very  large  zinc  importations  admits  of  little 
doubt. 

Still  another  feature  of  great  interest  to  the  American  zinc 
miner  lies  in  the  character  of  zinc  and  zinc  manufacture  that  will 
make  up  our  exports.  So  long  as  the  demand  is  limited  to  zinc  suit- 
able for  brass  manufacture  and  munitions,  the  exports  will  be  made 
up  principally  of  American  spelter  made  from  American  ores,  for 
it  is  the  high-grade,  pure  American  ores  that  are  suitable  for  making 
these  brands  without  recourse  to  melting  and  refining  practices.  On 
the  other  hand,  exports  of  zinc  for  galvanizing  and  galvanized  prod- 
ucts will  likely  be  made  up  from  imported  ores  from  which  the 
manufacturer  can  secure  ordinary  spelter  easily  and  from  cheaper 
ores  and  at  the  same  time  get  his  duty  rebated  when  he  re-exports 
his  products.  That  this  latter  course  will  be  extensively  followed 
and  become  a  growing  feature  of  our  foreign  export  trade  seems 
certain  with  such  large  supplies  of  foreign  ores  to  draw  upon. 

The  action  of  the  American  Steel  and  Wire  Company  in  build- 
ing a  new  zinc  smelter  of  40,000  tons  capacity  near  Pittsburgh  is 
also  a  feature  that  foreshadows  a  change  in  the  future  of  the  indus- 
try. While  this  concern  has  for  years  been  interested  in  zinc  smelt- 
ing through  its  subsidiary,  the  Edgar  Zinc  Company,  this  additional 
capacity  is  noteworthy  in  that  it  takes  out  of  the  general  market  for 
spelter  the  heaviest  single  consumer  and  henceforth  it  will  become 
a  buyer  of  ores  instead  of  the  finished  product.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  here  that  in  the  expanding  trade  in  steel,  wire  and  sheets,  this 
company  is  playing  a  leading  part,  and  that  it  is  likely  to  use  foreign 
ores  in  its  smelters  and  use  this  spelter  in  its  exports  is  only  the 
part  good  business  would  be  expected  to  play.  In  fact,  the  Edgar 
Zinc  Company,  its  subsidiary,  has  just  closed  a  Contract  for  50,000 
tons  of  Australian  ores. 

It  is  therefore  going  to  be  increasingly  difficult  for  American 
producers  of  low-grade  zinc  ores  or  such  grades  as  are  similar  to 
those  now  possible  of  importation  from  Australia,  Mexico,  Canada 


192          PROCEEDINGS  AMERICAN  MINING  CONGRESS 

and  Spain  to  sell  their  ores  for  prices  in  proportion  to  the  prices 
paid  for  spelter  or  even  high-grade  American  zinc  ores. 

Summary. 

To  sum  up,  it  would  appear  that  the  present  and  immediate 
future  of  the  whole  zinc  smelting  industry  is,  and  will  be,  prosper- 
ous, and  that  it  is  reasonably  certain  that  for  a  number  of  years 
America  will  have  a  very  large  share  in  the  export  zinc  trade  of  the 
world. 

In  the  second  place,  the  producers  of  high-grade  zinc  ores  have 
now  and  will  continue  to  have  a  comparatively  prosperous  future 
for  their  product. 

The  outlook  for  the  producers  of  low-grade  zinc  concentrates 
is  not  so  bright.  They  will  have  to  be  content  with  receiving  prices 
for  their  ore  on  a  par  with  what  low-grade  foreign  ores  can  be  pur- 
chased for  until  such  time  as  a  revision  of  the  tariff  is  made  that 
will  give  protection  or  there  is  such  a  reconstruction  of  the.  world's 
trade  as  will  turn  foreign  ores  to  other  countries.  In  the  meantime 
their  only  recourse  is  to  reduce  the  cost  of  production  and  strive  to 
bring  up  the  grade  of  their  product,  a  thing  that  the  Wisconsin  ore 
producers  have  already  done  and  it  is  an  example  for  other  low- 
grade  camps  to  follow. 


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